Portland’s gamble on Ja Morant is off to a fast start, and that matters even more when you remember how ugly the Josh Hart deal looked for the Trail Blazers.
General manager Joe Cronin has mostly come out ahead in his trades so far, and the Morant blockbuster is shaping up to fit that pattern. But the Hart move still sits as one of the rougher returns of his tenure. New York got the better end of it, and Hart became a key piece of a Knicks team that enters the season as defending champions and still feels somehow underrated in that role.
Portland, meanwhile, was left with Cam Reddish, Ryan Arcidiacono, Svi Mykhailiuk and a protected 2023 first-round pick. That pick turned into No. 23 overall selection Kris Murray out of Iowa, and he’s already off the roster.
In a twist, that package eventually helped the Blazers land Morant.
Kris Murray never quite gave Portland what it needed. The defensive versatility was there, but the shooting limitations were too much, and they never really changed.
A fresh start in Memphis might be exactly what he needs, especially with the way that franchise has built its identity since the Grit and Grind era. From Portland’s side, though, moving on made sense as an addition-by-subtraction play to help solve the team’s shooting issues.
The Blazers also used the deal to clear out Jerami Grant’s hefty contract, which was no small part of the appeal. Grant had become one of the league’s most negative assets, and if Morant was the best Memphis could bring back, that says plenty about how the market viewed him too.
So far, the early returns have been hard to ignore. In two games, Morant is averaging 13 points, 7.5 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals while shooting 52/38/50 in 24.5 minutes per game.
It’s a tiny sample, but the early look suggests he’s bringing the kind of winning play Portland hoped for. Morant appears energized in his new setting, and that should make the Blazers better than last year’s seventh-seed finish.
Even so, they’re still not in the class of the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs. And they’re certainly not where the Knicks were last season with Hart.
In Other News...
Blazers Just Added A New Win Tradition Players Will Want To Earn
Micah Nori has added a fresh layer to the postgame routine in Portland, and it comes with a little fight to it. After victories, the Trail Blazers now hand out a pair of boxing gloves in a new ritual called The Knockout Punch, a small team tradition designed to spotlight the player of the game and recognize impact that goes beyond the usual scoring headlines.
The coaching staff makes the call on who gets the gloves after each win, which gives the honor some extra weight inside the room. So far, the first two players to earn them have been Damian Lillard and Toumani Camara, a mix that shows the award is meant to celebrate more than one kind of winning performance. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Just Showed Why This Roster Could Be Tougher To Defend
The early returns on this Portland roster keep pointing to the same thing: there are more ways to hurt a defense now. The Trail Blazers showed improved depth with multiple players scoring in double figures, the kind of balanced production that can make game-planning far more complicated when one scorer is taken away or slowed down. For a team trying to climb into the thick of the West, that sort of spread-out offense can be just as valuable as a single star taking over.
Around the league, defenses are getting stressed from different angles, whether it is LaMelo Ball working through foul trouble in his first home game with Minnesota and still finishing with 15 points and eight assists, or Luka Doncic putting up 52 against Utah. Portland does not need to copy those stars to matter, but the lesson is clear: when a roster can keep multiple threats on the floor and keep scoring in waves, it becomes much harder to defend for 48 minutes. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers' New Backcourt Twist Puts Scoot And Sharpe In A Tough Spot
Portlands 2-0 start has come with a noticeable shift in how the offense is being shaped, with Deni Avdija emerging as the focal point and the backcourt built around Ja Morant and Damian Lillard. It is an early sign that the Blazers are willing to lean into a different hierarchy if it gives them a cleaner path on offense, even if that means rethinking how their younger guards fit into the picture.
For Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe, the ripple effects are hard to ignore. Henderson is moving toward restricted free agency next summer, while Sharpe is already tied up through 2029-30, and those timelines give Portland different kinds of leverage and pressure as the roster takes shape. Joe Cronin may ultimately have to consider more than just development minutes here, because if the Blazers keep trending toward this new guard arrangement, the long-term fit could force some uncomfortable decisions. [Read more 🡒]