Gilbert Arenas Has Advice For Teams Looking For Impact Players: Call The Blazers

As the February 5 trade deadline approaches, former NBA players have weighed in on the best deals that teams can make to find the roster boost they’re looking for. If you ask Gilbert Arenas, one source of bankable young athletes can be found in the distant West.

“If I’m any team and I have decent picks, and I want impact players, like someone who can help me win or get me over the top, I would be looking at the Portland Trail Blazers right now,” he said on “The Gilbert Arenas Show.”

Arenas, a three-time All-Star who now thrives in the podcasting industry, got creative with his description of the Blazers’ talent pool. “They have a bunch of assets that, together as a group, haven’t created a meal. It’s a whole bunch of great a** side dishes with no main meal… You’re going to have the yams, the cranberry, the stuffing, the mac and cheese.”

At the end of the day, Agent Zero thinks that the buffet of talents in Rip City needs, for lack of a better word, a proper turkey. “You’re going to have a whole bunch of sides, and that piece you need to really set off Thanksgiving is not there.”

Arenas didn’t name names in this excerpt, but Blazers fans know the “side dishes” he’s referring to. This season, Deni Avdija has served up a vastly improved skill set on offense, averaging 25.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg, and 6.8 apg to make a case for Most Improved Player. Jerami Grant, Avdija’s running mate in the frontcourt, has also done well for himself by putting up 18.8 ppg on 42.9% FG shooting. In the backcourt, 22-year-old Shaedon Sharpe is having a blast with 21.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.

There’s one other player on the Blazers' menu who has popped up in recent trade buzz: Jrue Holiday. Insiders like Marc Stein and Ian Begley have reported on the New York Knicks’ plans to acquire the two-time NBA champion in order to entice Holiday’s former teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo to come to the Big Apple.

The Knicks may very well be among the teams that are looking at the Blazers’ offerings a week away from the trade deadline. In the words of Arenas, Portland might find itself short on yams and stuffing in seven days’ time.