The Trail Blazers spent last season learning a hard lesson about roster construction: depth only matters if it shows up. Portland finished seventh in injured cash totals at $56.8 million, according to Sportrac's NBA Injured List Tracker, and every team ahead of them ended up in the lottery. However you want to read that, the Blazers were one of the league’s most beat-up teams.
That reality went beyond the headline number. Deni Avdija was dealing with a back injury that lasted past the All-Star Break and hurt the lift on his three-point shot. Even rookie Yang Hansen was getting minutes at times when Portland probably would have preferred he stay in the G League.
Against that backdrop, Tiago Splitter’s job was no small thing. The interim coach still managed to steer the Blazers out of their playoff drought, which makes the offseason choices feel even more important now.
One of the clearest moves Portland made was letting Matisse Thybulle walk in free agency, where he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. That’s a useful pickup for the Lakers, who needed two-way wing help after a busy offseason. With their eye on building around Luka Doncic in a way that resembles the roster he had during his 2024 Finals run with the Dallas Mavericks, Thybulle could fit as a piece of that plan.
For Portland, though, the separation makes sense. The Blazers weren’t looking at the version of Thybulle they wanted - they were looking at the one they kept getting.
He played just 15 games in 2024-25 and then 30 last season. That kind of availability is a problem Portland can’t keep carrying.
The roster math is part of it, too. The Blazers already have a crunch because of their multi-year Yang Hansen project, which leaves them at 14 before the season even starts.
During Lillard’s gap year last season, Thybulle’s spot often pushed that number down to 12. Now that Lillard is back, the same issue is still there: a group that looks deeper on paper can get thin fast when too many pieces are hard to count on.
There was at least one encouraging sign on the injury front. Robert Williams III held up much better, appearing in 59 games, his second-highest total since he played 61 for the 2021-22 Boston Celtics. Portland may have found a workable way to manage him, whether that came through a minutes restriction or by keeping him out of back-to-backs.
That contrast matters. The Blazers chose to keep investing in their two-way rim protector rather than their two-way wing, and the structure of Williams’ contract only made that easier. Wing depth is still an issue, but last season made the bigger point clear: Portland can’t keep building around projects and injury-prone players while asking the roster to survive a playoff push.
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Noris arrival has also brought scrutiny beyond the usual coaching pressure, with the terms of his new deal becoming part of the conversation around the hire. Portland wanted a steady hand to maximize a group that needs structure and clarity, but the way the contract is set up has already raised eyebrows across the league, adding another layer of tension before he even gets to settle into the job. [Read more 🡒]
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Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe both find themselves squeezed lower on the depth chart than they were before, which puts added pressure on two of Portlands most important developmental pieces. There is also a ripple effect in the frontcourt, where the Blazers have enough centers to create another numbers issue and a wing depth shortage could open a door for Sidy Cissoko, leaving the roster in a state where opportunity may be determined as much by fit as by upside. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Just Sent A Clear Message About Jrue Holiday
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For a team trying to keep its options open, that matters. The Blazers have treated Holiday as an insurance policy for other key players, while also seeing his deal as the kind of asset that can preserve flexibility down the line. In other words, Portland is not in a hurry to give away a useful contract, and that leaves the door open for a future move that could shape the roster in a much bigger way. [Read more 🡒]