Three top-10 draft picks that may be available in a trade

Don’t even pretend the No. 1 pick is available. It’s not. As in, even if you offer the current or one of the most recent MVPs for the chance to select Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs will hang up on the call. Fans may not grasp how high teams are on the young French star, but it is ridiculously high.

However, other lottery picks are available via trade. Not all these deals will get done, the prices will be high, but expect a trade — or trades — within the top 10 picks this season. 

Here are three where there are early rumors and it is worth watching.

While a minority of the Trail Blazer fan base is gaming out Damian Lillard trades — to the annoyance of Lillard — that is absolutely not the plan in the Portland front office. The goal is to make a bold trade to bring in another star, someone to put next to Lillard, and compete deep into the playoffs next season.

How they get that star is a trade package centered around the No. 3 pick, plus some combination of Jusuf Nurkic, Anfernee Simons, and if need be Shaedon Sharpe (the Trail Blazers don’t want to trade him, but if the return is good enough they will not have a choice). The pick is the star of that deal because it will be Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller (the early conventional wisdom is the Hornets at No. 2 like Miller as a better fit next to LaMelo Ball). If Henderson is available, he has some real fans around the league, and maybe a team is ready to make a bold move for the star.

What the Trail Blazers want back is an All-Star level player at least, not future picks and role players. Lillard is coming off an All-NBA season, but at age 32 his window isn’t going to be open that long. If a team with a star is looking to shake up their roster, this could be the move.

Hou