You just know LeBron James is keeping a close eye on Portland, catching most of their games, watching Rodney Hood dominate for them. You just know he’s thinking “why couldn’t he do that for me in Cleveland” followed by “how can I get him on the Lakers” and then “they call me ‘LeGM’ but if I was really GM I’d already have this guy on my team, god damn it”. Luckily for LeBron, I’ve figured out some sweet trade possibilities so that he and Hood can team up again and win a championship for real this time.
Trade idea 1: Hood and Jusuf Nurkic for LeBron James. This satisfies LeBron’s goal of getting Hood on the Lakers, for sure. That’s the whole point of this, right? This does that. Only problem is, Nurkic getting traded to LA as well creates sort of a logjam at the center position.
Trade idea 2: Hood for Troy Daniels and Quinn Cook. Do the salaries match? I don’t know how contracts work or even how the concept of money works, so don’t look at me. But I feel like this is a fairly even swap, even if Hood is actually good and Daniels/Cook or both kinda marginal. The Blazers don’t want marginal, but this is LeGM we’re talking about. He doesn’t take no for an answer.
Trade idea 3: Hood for Thon Maker. I’ve learned over the years that there is literally no trade scenario where Maker doesn’t fit perfectly. LITERALLY none. He’s the perfect trade filler, he doesn’t even have to be on one of the teams involved in the trade and you can still trade him. It doesn’t matter that he sucks, the fact of his incredibly versatile tradeability makes him a desired piece for any team in the league.