A Jayson Tatum-to-St. Louis storyline sounds far-fetched on its face. But the noise coming out of Portland is loud enough that Celtics fans can at least hear it.
The Trail Blazers’ new owner, Tom Dundon, has wasted no time making life messy. Since taking over, the franchise has already dealt with turmoil involving two-way players and staffers. Tiago Splitter, after doing enough as interim head coach to help push the team into the playoffs, still had to leave for the Chicago Bulls to get the contract he had earned - nearly clearing the way for Boston Celtics assistant coach Tyler Lashbrook to step in.
Now the bigger issue is whether Portland itself is becoming unstable.
Dundon wants a new arena and is pushing local taxpayers to help pay for it. The relationship with politicians in the City of Roses has only gotten more strained, and the Blazers haven’t exactly helped cool things down.
Brian Windhorst said on a recent edition of the Hoop Collective, "It's getting worse by the day. The rhetoric between the politicians and the Trail Blazers is deteriorating," and added, "The city wants the Blazers to sign a lease to get the money to renovate their arena."
The tension has already spilled into the public record. According to Jason Quick of The Athletic, the organization rejected an invitation from City Council President Jamie Dunphy.
That’s where the St. Louis chatter comes in.
Ross Chaifetz, managing director of the Chaifetz Group, is tied to Portland’s NBA ownership through his family. His father, Dr.
Richard Chaifetz, and the Chaifetz Group hold an ownership stake in the franchise. The family also has deep St.
Louis roots, including Dr. Richard Chaifetz’s graduation from St.
Louis University, where the school’s basketball teams play in Chaifetz Arena.
Ross Chaifetz recently retweeted a KMOV post highlighting St. Louis as a possible NBA market, which only added fuel to the speculation.
For Celtics fans, the obvious connection is Tatum. The Boston star is from St.
Louis and is there right now for his sixth annual foundation golf tournament. If Portland ever did move to the Gateway City - or if St.
Louis somehow landed an expansion team down the line - the idea of Tatum playing for his hometown franchise would no longer be pure fantasy.
Still, that’s a long way from reality.
Tatum could easily spend his whole career in Boston, or at least most of it, and finish elsewhere only if St. Louis ever had a team.
He would also have financial reasons to stay with the Celtics when he becomes eligible for an extension. So while the thought is enough to make Boston fans uneasy, it’s not the kind of thing they should be losing sleep over just yet.
There’s also a strong chance the whole relocation talk is leverage rather than a real exit plan.
The NBA would have to approve any move, and the league does not simply let a team pick up and leave on its own. Even if Portland and city officials can’t reach a deal on the arena, the league could push the franchise toward another market instead.
And from a practical standpoint, relocation is a huge lift. Dundon’s group would have to pay a relocation fee, then still figure out a stadium situation somewhere else.
They’d also have to build a fan base from scratch. That’s a massive and expensive project, which is why the more likely play may be pressure tactics aimed at forcing Portland to come up with a better deal.
That doesn’t mean a compromise is impossible. It just means anyone on the other side of the negotiations has to be careful. Dundon would still need to sell Adam Silver and the other owners on the idea that moving the team makes sense.
As for St. Louis, the case for moving a franchise from one market just inside the top 25 to another would have to be strong. And if Boston fans would rather not see an NBA team there, the people being pitched probably have their own reasons to prefer the Trail Blazers stay put.
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