The Portland Trail Blazers have already watched the first wave of free agency pass them by, and the list of answers to their roster problems is getting shorter by the day. Their lone addition so far has been Branden Carlson, the former Oklahoma City Thunder seven-footer who arrived as something of a low-profile signing.
That leaves Portland still staring at a major opening on the wing after the surprising blockbuster that sent Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to Memphis in the deal for Ja Morant. The Blazers have two roster spots left to fill, and one of the names still hanging around is unrestricted free agent Matisse Thybulle, who sits No. 15 on Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus’ list of the top remaining free agents.
Even if Thybulle comes back into the picture, Portland should be looking hard at another option: Bruce Brown Jr. Pincus has Brown ranked No. 9 among the best remaining free agents, and the players ahead of him are not exactly clean fits for the Blazers.
Brown makes sense because he brings the kind of versatility Portland is missing. Pincus pointed to his value in Denver, where he played a key role in the Nuggets’ 2023 championship run. As Pincus wrote:
"Fit in the NBA can be everything, and Brown fits in Denver. He helped the team win a championship in 2022-23, shooting the second-best three-point percentage in his career (38.5).
Returning as a free agent on a minimum contract, Brown is at his best at 38.1 percent from deep. Not that he takes too many attempts.
He knows his role is to play defense, feed off Jokić, and do whatever is needed to get his squad a win. While he's only on a one-year deal, Brown may return to Denver, given his success with the Nuggets."
That possibility should push Portland to move with more urgency, especially since the Blazers have been strangely quiet while the market keeps thinning out.
Their offseason needs were obvious from the start: shooting, playmaking, and more help at forward. The Morant trade has loaded up the backcourt with playmakers for a team that led the league in turnovers per game last season, but it also made the shooting issues worse and didn’t solve the lack of forward depth.
A response was expected. Instead, July has arrived and the roster still feels unfinished.
Among the remaining options, Brown stands out as the best mix of realistic and useful. He is not a pure sniper, but he did hit 38.5 percent of his threes for Denver this past season. More than that, he offers championship experience and the kind of all-around perimeter game that can patch several holes at once.
If he doesn’t end up back in Denver, Portland should be right there trying to bring him in.
In Other News...
Pacers Just Lost Another Frontcourt Piece Fans Were Watching
After reshaping the frontcourt in recent trades, Portland added another body to the mix by claiming Micah Potter off waivers from Indiana and putting him on the active roster. The 28-year-old power forward gives the Trail Blazers a little more size and flexibility as they continue sorting out the rotation behind the main pieces up front.
Potter spent last season with the Pacers, appearing in 47 games and showing enough to stay on a teams radar, even if Indiana ultimately needed the roster spot for a different frontcourt move. For Portland, the appeal is straightforward: a low-risk addition with another year left on his contract who can help fill minutes while the Blazers keep building out the depth chart. [Read more 🡒]
How The Blazers Found A Prospect The Rest Of The NBA Missed
Jayson Kents path to Portland was anything but direct. The forward went undrafted, had no summer league invitation waiting for him and was not even on the radar of most NBA teams after his college career took a hit at Texas, where a wrist injury and limited playing time followed a strong second season at Indiana State. For a player whose stock had once looked far more promising, the climb back started the hard way, with a tryout for the Trail Blazers G League affiliate, the Rip City Remix, and then a standard G League deal that kept him in the organization.
Portlands interest sharpened after a July 2025 Pro Day, when Kent got a chance to put himself in front of the Blazers and earn a look they had not given him before. The appeal was not hard to understand once they saw him in a different role, with more responsibility on the wing and with the ball in his hands, a usage that seemed to reveal more shooting and perimeter skill than the rest of the league had fully accounted for. From there, the door opened to a preseason mini-camp invite and, eventually, a spot on the NBA roster. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Summer League Could Answer One Frustrating Question Early
Portlands Summer League slate is about more than getting a first look at the new group against the Suns. It is also an early test for a roster that still has a few obvious questions hanging over it, especially around development and whether the team can uncover more reliable shooting. Yang Hansen is one of the more closely watched names after his rookie year, and the Blazers will be looking for signs that his game is moving in the right direction rather than stalling out.
The two-way situation adds another layer, with Chris Youngblood and Jayson Kent both getting a real chance to show they can be more than camp bodies. Portland has also lined up a cluster of other Summer League players who could push for attention, including Jalen Bridges, Quincy Olivari, Andrew Carr, DJ Steward and Flynn Cameron, and the shooting need makes that group worth tracking closely. For a team still sorting out its edges, this month could offer an early answer to one of the more frustrating questions on the docket. [Read more 🡒]