The Portland Trail Blazers may have assembled a backcourt that can light up scoreboards, but the bigger question is whether it can actually hold together on the floor.
With Ja Morant now in the mix alongside Damian Lillard, Portland suddenly has a pair of guards who can bend a defense in completely different ways. Morant attacks the rim with force.
Lillard stretches the floor with deep shooting range. In theory, that’s a nightmare for opposing teams.
The fit makes sense offensively almost immediately. Lillard’s gravity well beyond the arc should pull defenders out of the paint, while Morant’s downhill game forces help defenders to collapse. That kind of pressure can open the floor in a hurry, and it gives the Blazers an offense that feels wide open in terms of how it can function.
Both players can create for themselves and for others, which only adds to the possibilities. Portland’s attack looks like a blank canvas with so many directions it can go, and that kind of versatility can make the Blazers harder to game-plan against.
The numbers behind the driving threat make the point even clearer. Deni Avdija led the league last season with 19.4 drives per game, while Morant wasn’t far behind at 15.7, good for fifth in the league.
Put two pressure-heavy drivers on the floor together, and defenses will have to crowd the paint. That should leave Lillard with room to operate on the perimeter.
If Nori can stagger their minutes so at least one point guard is always on the court, Portland’s offense has a chance to be one of the league’s best.
But the shine comes with real questions attached.
Morant and Lillard are both 6-2, and that puts a lot on the rest of the starting five. The Blazers will need shooting and defense from the other spots on the floor, because this pairing leaves little margin for passengers. Portland also has to sort through a crowded guard group that includes Sharpe, Holiday and Henderson, who are expected to come off the bench.
That means Micah Nori has some serious lineup decisions to make in his first summer as the team’s head coach. The defensive side is the part that needs the most attention, and Portland will have to make adjustments to keep this group from getting picked apart.
The Blazers also can’t afford to surround Morant and Lillard with players defenses are willing to ignore. If extra help comes at either guard, players like Avdija and Toumani Camara will have to punish those rotations. The development of Portland’s young core matters here too, because the team still has to sort out who fits into its long-term picture.
And in the playoffs, those weak spots get exposed fast. If Portland can’t keep Lillard and Morant out of defensive mismatches, tougher, more physical matchups could become a problem.
The talent is obvious. The challenge is making sure it all works. Portland’s best path is finding the right situations for both guards and building the rest of the lineup to support them.
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Blazers Face A Backcourt Dilemma Micah Nori Cant Avoid
Micah Noris first season in Portland comes with a backcourt puzzle most teams would love to have and still have to solve. The Trail Blazers have four point guards who could start on a lot of rosters in Ja Morant, Damian Lillard, Scoot Henderson and Jrue Holiday, which leaves the staff sorting out not just who plays, but how much and in what combinations. It is the kind of depth chart that looks crowded on paper and even more complicated once you factor in recent injuries, age, and the need to keep everyone engaged.
Morants availability has been a talking point after his recent injury history, while Hendersons path is tied to his role as a bench player and how much responsibility he can handle when the rotation is tightened. Holiday also enters a different conversation after years as a fixture in a starting group, and Portland has to decide whether his value is best used in a smaller role or in the kind of steadying presence that has defined his career. For a team trying to make all the pieces fit, the real challenge may be less about talent than about finding a balance that keeps the backcourt from becoming a nightly guessing game. [Read more 🡒]
Thunder Still Have A Costly Roster Crunch Coming Soon
The Thunder have already shown a willingness to take a hard look at the books, trimming their projected 2026-27 payroll from more than $500 million to about $234 million through a flurry of offseason trades and new contracts. For a team built around a young core and real expectations, that kind of reset matters because it buys time, flexibility and at least a little breathing room before the next round of money starts to hit.
Even so, the accounting does not stay clean for long. Projections now point to Oklahoma City moving back above the luxury tax apron by nearly $19 million in 2027-28, with payroll climbing past $400 million even before a new deal for Cason Wallace is factored in. For a contender that is trying to stay ahead of the leagues harshest penalties, the question is less whether the roster is talented enough and more how long the front office can keep paying for it. [Read more 🡒]