The Portland Trail Blazers took a real step forward with Deni Avdija’s All-Star breakout, and that alone changes the conversation around the franchise. It gives them something they’ve been missing since Damian Lillard: a legitimate headliner. But it also makes the next problem impossible to ignore.
Even if Lillard comes back close to form and the Ja Morant trade pays off, Portland still doesn’t look like it belongs in the same class as the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs. At best, that kind of outcome would put the Blazers in the mix with teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets.
That’s progress. It’s not contention.
The reason is simple: Avdija is good, but the gap between him and the league’s true drivers is still massive. ESPN ranked him No. 27 in its top 100, which may undersell him a bit, but it also shows where Portland stands.
If he keeps building off his first All-Star season and fully shakes off the lingering back injury that affected his three-point shot late in the year, he could climb into that 10-15 range. That would be a huge jump.
It still wouldn’t automatically make him a title-level No. 1.
That’s where the Boston Celtics come in as the best example. They won the 2024 title without having a top-five player in the world, and that matters for a team like Portland trying to find a workable route into the upper tier.
The key was not just one star, but two two-way wings. Jayson Tatum is the cleaner comparison for what Avdija would need to become, while Jaylen Brown is the kind of partner Portland still has to find.
The irony is that Brown was the player the Blazers could have had for cheap via trade this summer. Portland showed interest, but the front office passed because he didn’t fit its analytically driven approach. That decision now looks even more important because it highlights the type of player the roster is still missing.
For Avdija to get anywhere near that Tatum lane, a lot has to go right. He has to recover fully from the back issue.
He has to keep running the offense as a point forward. He has to cut down the turnovers without losing the part of his game that makes him such a problem to defend.
And he has to help on the other end, too.
That defensive piece matters. Boston didn’t win because it had flashy scoring alone; it won because Tatum and Brown could both impact the game on both ends.
Avdija struggled defensively with Portland, but the context matters. With so many backcourt injuries, he was spending his energy carrying the offense.
Before that, with the Washington Wizards, he had already shown he can be a strong, versatile defender when he’s not asked to do so much.
Micah Nori’s job will be finding the right balance. Avdija still needs to be the main offensive initiator, but Portland also needs guards like Lillard and Morant to absorb some of that playmaking load as secondary creators.
The ideal version of this roster would have been different entirely. A true top-five player like Giannis Antetokounmpo would have let Avdija slide into a more natural co-star role. But this offseason has been a harsh reminder of how hard it is for Portland to land that kind of talent, no matter the reason.
So the Blazers may not have a choice. Their clearest path might run through Avdija becoming the 1A option and growing into something closer to a Tatum-level star. If he reaches that 10-15 range, Portland at least has a chance.
What it still needs, though, is the Brown type next to him - someone in that 20-25 range who can make the whole thing work. Lillard or Morant could maybe fill that role if they rediscover their old All-Star selves, and the Blazers will learn soon enough once the season starts. But banking on that would be risky.
The ESPN rankings made the scale of the problem obvious. Lillard was Portland’s second-highest player at No. 69, which leaves too much distance between him and Avdija.
The Blazers need Avdija to climb into the 10-15 range and another real co-star to land around 20-25. That’s a difficult build.
It’s also starting to look like their best shot.
In Other News...
Blazers Playoff Hopes Come Down To One Uncomfortable Reality
The Trail Blazers did enough over the regular season and Play-In Tournament to reach the 2025-26 NBA Playoffs as the Wests No. 7 seed, a step forward that should have signaled real staying power. Instead, the conversation around Portland has quickly shifted to whether that breakthrough is built to last, especially with questions lingering about ownership direction, coaching stability and how well the roster actually fits together.
One anonymous NBA scout put the unease in blunt terms, framing Portland as a team he expects to slide back out of the playoff mix. At the center of it all is an awkward balancing act: whether Ja Morant and Damian Lillard can stay healthy and find a way to coexist while Deni Avdija remains the clubs primary offensive engine. If that combination does not settle quickly, the Blazers could discover how thin the margin is between a feel-good spring and a much harsher reality. [Read more 🡒]
Hawks Move On From Keon Johnson And Raise An Immediate Question
Keon Johnsons latest stop ended almost as quickly as it began, with Atlanta waiving the former first-round pick shortly after bringing him in on an Exhibit 10 deal. The move leaves Johnson back on the market, and it also puts a few teams on alert as the veteran-free-agency shuffle keeps rolling late in the calendar.
Among the possibilities being floated are Denver, Chicago and Portland, with the Trail Blazers included because of their guard situation and the broader way their roster has been taking shape. Portland also recently moved on from guards Mark Sears and Barry Dunning, which only adds to the sense that there could be room for another look, even if nothing has been decided yet. [Read more 🡒]
Jeremy Sochan Puts Blazers Camp Battle In Sharp Focus
Jeremy Sochan arrives in Portland with the kind of profile that usually gets a closer look in training camp: young enough to develop, experienced enough to matter, and versatile enough to fit a roster that can always use another defender. The 23-year-old forward is entering his fifth NBA season after signing a one-year, non-guaranteed contract, and the Trail Blazers are clearly viewing him as a possible answer behind the main rotation rather than a finished product.
What makes Sochan intriguing is the same thing that makes his path uneasy. Portland likes the defensive flexibility he can bring by guarding multiple positions, but the offensive side of his game remains a limitation, which puts real weight on how he looks in camp and how he fits into the depth picture. For a team sorting through its backup forward options, his presence adds another layer to a competition that could come down to who can do the most without needing the ball. [Read more 🡒]