{"id":698034,"date":"2026-04-04T16:29:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/698034\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T16:29:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:29:20","slug":"new-blazers-owner-tom-dundon-drops-trade-deadline-bombshell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/698034\/","title":{"rendered":"New Blazers Owner Tom Dundon Drops Trade Deadline Bombshell"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Portland Trail Blazers swung and missed at the trade deadline, failing to come up with a big deal that would have placed the team in a position to win more.<\/p>\n

The Blazers did make a small swap, sending injured big man Duop Reath to the Atlanta Hawks for 3-point specialist V\u00edt Krej\u010d\u00ed, but new owner Tom Dundon talked about general manager Joe Cronin nearly pulling off a big deal at the trade deadline<\/a> in a recent press conference announcing the official $4.25 billion sale of the team to his ownership group.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve tried to get this message through the last couple of days that that was fun, and probably necessary, but it\u2019s more fun to win,\u201d Dundon said. \u201cIt\u2019s more fun to do the things that lead to success and hopefully we\u2019ll start creating more habits, that those processes lead to the kind of winning that I expect, and I think everybody expects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here is a deeper dive into the trade that failed to come into fruition and how it is affecting the Blazers moving forward in their quest to make the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Blazers Were a Bridesmaid at NBA Trade Deadline\"Portland<\/p>\n

Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin looks on before the game against the Utah Jazz. | Soobum Im-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen what kind of trade the Blazers were shooting for, but there were a few situations around the league that likely hindered their chances of making a move.<\/p>\n

It’s possible that the player in mind for this deal was Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>, who was reportedly a trade target for the Blazers<\/a> according to NBA insider Marc Stein.<\/p>\n

The trade deadline was dominated by some blockbuster deals, which included Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz and Anthony Davis to the Washington Wizards. With rebuilding teams trading multiple assets to acquire these players, the price for Antetokounmpo and other big stars likely increased, turning the Blazers off any type of deal at the time. <\/p>\n

Another player that may be the mystery man is former Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga. The Blazers also had links to Kuminga<\/a>, but the team was unwilling to move on from other players on their roster, which nixed any chance of a deal happening.<\/p>\n

V\u00edt Krej\u010d\u00ed Hasn’t Worked Out For Blazers\"Portland<\/p>\n

Portland Trail Blazers guard Vit Krejci shoots against the Atlanta Hawks. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

While Dundon likes the potential Cronin has to move pieces to improve the roster, his output hasn’t been spectacular from this trade deadline. Krejci is the only player the Blazers acquired<\/a>, and he has been underwhelming, to say the least. <\/p>\n

Despite making 42.3 percent of his three-point shots this season in 46 appearances with the Hawks, his number has dipped to just over 30 percent in 18 games with the Blazers. On top of that, he’s been dealing with a calf injury that has held him out since March 15. <\/p>\n

Blazers Blockbuster Trade Could Come Soon\"Milwaukee<\/p>\n

Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo warms up before the game against the Boston Celtics. | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Blazers find themselves fighting for one of the final play-in spots, but they are limited in that they don’t have a roster that can flip a switch and compete with the top teams in the Western Conference like the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs. <\/p>\n

Veterans like Jerami Grant and Jrue Holiday<\/a> help give the team some playoff experience alongside their young core, but the future of the team has yet to reach its full potential. <\/p>\n

The Blazers are currently in eighth place in the Western Conference, which is a step up from where they have been in years past, but it is far from the final destination. <\/p>\n

Perhaps the Blazers will try again in the summer in hopes of landing a star that can really take the team to the next level. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Portland Trail Blazers swung and missed at the trade deadline, failing to come up with a big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,601,6,687,471,3967,1617],"class_list":{"0":"post-698034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portland-trail-blazers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-blazers","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-portland","12":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","13":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","14":"tag-trail-blazers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116347390531929748","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}