The Portland Trail Blazers only have four preseason games on the docket in October, but for this group, that’s a lot of runway to sort through a roster that still feels very much in motion.
There’s already been plenty to untangle heading into the season, and the Ja Morant trade only added to the noise. Portland now has a backcourt mix featuring Morant, Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday, three accomplished guards who still need time to figure out how the fit actually works on the floor. Deni Avdija brings another layer of uncertainty, too, as the Blazers have to decide where he belongs in the offensive pecking order and whether he remains more of a point forward who helps initiate things.
That leaves Micah Nori with a lot on his plate in his first head coaching job. Beyond sorting out the rotation, he also has to determine what the starting five will look like when the season opens.
Portland gets its first live test on Wednesday, Oct. 7, when the Golden State Warriors come to the Moda Center for a 7 p.m. tip. The rest of the preseason slate follows quickly after that:
Wednesday, Oct. 7 - Golden State Warriors - 7 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 12 - London Lions - 1 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 13 - @ Sacramento Kings - 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 16 - @ Golden State Warriors - 7 p.m.
The Oct. 12 matchup has a little history attached to it. The London Lions will become the first British basketball club ever to face an NBA team, and their head coach is Tautvydas Sabonis, the son of Blazers legend Arvydas Sabonis.
For Portland, this preseason matters more than most. Holiday is still on the roster, despite the wildly off-base talk on Twitter that he could be a buyout candidate, and that only adds to the puzzle. Nori has six possible starters to sort through in Morant, Lillard, Holiday, Toumani Camara, Avdija and Donovan Clingan, which gives the Blazers plenty of flexibility - and plenty of decisions.
One possible path would be to borrow from Chauncey Billups’ approach, when he rotated different players out of the starting group from game to game. In that stretch, even Avdija got the bench treatment first.
However they handle it, these four games feel like a crucial early window for Portland to make sense of a roster that has more talent, more options and just as many questions.
In Other News...
Blazers Just Added Another Young Talent To A Roster Battle
The Trail Blazers have added another young piece to the mix, signing Jeremy Sochan as they continue sorting through the edges of their roster. Portland sees him as a player with room to grow, and the move gives the team another developmental name to evaluate as training camp and competition for spots begin to take shape.
Sochan arrives after stops with the Spurs and the Knicks, bringing the kind of recent experience that can make a roster fight more interesting than usual. For Portland, the appeal is straightforward: keep collecting young talent, see who separates, and let the battle for a place on the team sort itself out over time. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Future In Portland Feels More Uncertain After Latest Standoff
Talks between the Trail Blazers and Portland city officials over a Moda Center renovation have quickly become more than a routine arena discussion. The two sides recently met to sort through what it would take to keep the franchise in Portland, and the session made clear there is still a sizable divide on the basic terms of any deal, with the Blazers raising concerns about both the local business climate and the political environment around the project.
The standoff has also sharpened the tension around how much of the renovation burden should fall on the public side and how much protection the team should have in the agreement. City officials have downplayed litigation worries, but the Blazers have not been willing to move past a clause tied to maintaining the building in first-class condition, leaving this latest round of talks feeling less like a breakthrough than another reminder of how fragile the teams long-term footing in Portland remains. [Read more 🡒]
Bill Simmons Just Voiced Every Blazers Fans Biggest Fear
Bill Simmons managed to put words to the unease that can follow any ownership change in Portland, especially when the new buyer comes in at a price that feels lower than what an expansion franchise might command. His concern was less about the transaction itself and more about what it could mean down the road, with questions swirling around how much Tom Dundon is really tied to the Portland community and whether the long-term plan is as simple as keeping the Trail Blazers where they are.
Simmons also pointed to Dundons existing role with the Carolina Hurricanes and wondered aloud why someone would want to own a team on the opposite coast unless there were bigger ideas in play. The contrast he drew with Seattle only sharpened the anxiety, because expansion chatter always leaves one eye on the map. For Blazers fans, the fear is not just about who signed the check, but what kind of future that check might be buying. [Read more 🡒]