Portland enters training camp with a lot more weight on its shoulders than it had a year ago.
Media day is set for 9 am on Monday, September 28th, and the Blazers’ 2026 training camp opens the next day. After ending a four-year playoff drought, the pressure is different now. Expectations are up, and the roster has changed enough this offseason to make the depth chart feel just as interesting as the standings race.
Here’s where the stock is moving for the key Blazers pieces heading into camp.
Donovan Clingan is in the best spot of the bunch. He took a major step in Year 2 once he became Portland’s full-time starter, and there’s nothing about this setup that suggests the rise has to stop at 22.
The front office added frontcourt depth around him, but not in a way that clouds the picture - Clingan still looks like the clear center of the plan at center. With an undersized guard duo in front of him, his job may actually get even bigger this season.
Stock: Up
Deni Avdija is also trending in the right direction. A back injury bothered him late last season, but he’s had a full offseason to recover, and Portland didn’t even want him playing for Israel this summer.
The wrinkle is that the Blazers have loaded up on playmakers, which could shrink his touches. Still, if head coach Micah Nori can get Morant, Lillard, and the other guards working as secondary creators while keeping Avdija in that point-forward role, he could be positioned for a stronger 2026-27.
Stock: Up
Ja Morant’s arrival gives Portland a fascinating, messy backcourt and a fit that is not exactly clean. He may not even start.
But off the court, the move makes sense in a way that’s hard to ignore. Portland looks like a good place for his fresh start, and the city seems ready to embrace it.
The Blazers also have a veteran support system in place, with guards like Holiday and Lillard around to help keep him pointed in the right direction. After what happened in Memphis, that kind of environment could matter a lot.
Stock: Up
Scoot Henderson is headed the other way. The lack of an extension as October approaches says plenty, and Portland already had him behind Lillard after the Achilles injury.
Then the Morant trade pushed him even further down the ladder. He’s still making progress as a 3-and-D guard and trying to build an off-ball game, but the reality is getting harder to avoid: he may have lost control of the offense.
Stock: Down
Shaedon Sharpe’s situation is even tougher. His stock was already sliding after he fell out of Tiago Splitter’s playoff rotation against the Spurs, and the Nori hire was supposed to give him a fresh opening.
That chance looks much smaller now with the backcourt crowded and confusing. Then came the injury news: he’s expected to miss about six months because of a lateral meniscus tear in his right knee.
He does at least have the four-year, $90 million extension he signed before last season, but if Henderson proves he fits this new backcourt better in Sharpe’s absence, Sharpe could quickly find himself on the outside looking in.
Stock: Down
Yang Hansen is the clearest sign of how Portland’s priorities have shifted. The offseason moves, especially up front, tell you plenty about where he stands in the developmental picture, and last season already raised alarms.
He never got into Splitter’s rotation, and Splitter said he had to be careful because he didn’t want to “throw him into the fire.” Now the road looks even steeper.
The Blazers added Branden Carlson, Micah Potter, and Jeremy Sochan, and while Sochan may not even make the final 15-man roster, he still stands ahead of Hansen right now. With immediate win-now expectations under new owner Tom Dundon and Nori only guaranteed one year of his three-year deal, Portland may not be eager to give Hansen minutes if it puts the coach in a bind.
Stock: Down
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 🡒]