How the Ben Simmons-James Harden trade impacts the Trail Blazers + Where Portland stands after the trade deadline

Ben Simmons and James Harden swapped cities at the trade deadline on Thursday with Simmons taking getting his wish to get a fresh start outside of Philly and Harden getting his wish of reuniting with Daryl Morey. It's a blockbuster move and potentially a win for both franchises. But it's probably bad news for the Trail Blazers. This episode unpacks why that trade had an impact all the way across the country for a tanking team in Portland and takes a look at the other major moves at the deadline. The Blazers didn't do anything else on deadline day after a week of roster reconstruction. There were no takers for Eric Bledsoe and Portland's pursuit of Jerami Grant never came to fruition. After the dust settled on a busy week of transactions where do the Blazers stand? Now that the easy part is over where exactly are the Blazers headed. The plan seems pretty obvious but the path remains relatively treacherous. Can Portland really complete a turnaround in six months going from intentionally bad to convincingly good? Tearing the roster apart was step 1. The remaining steps is where things actually get challenging. How about a moment to ruminate on the "how" of Portland's roster building adventure with thoughts from GM Joe Cronin, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices