Ja Morant is carrying the biggest salary burden on the Portland Trail Blazers, and the gap is wide.
He’s set to make $42 million next season, the highest cap hit on the roster by a clear margin. Jrue Holiday is the only teammate even within striking distance, at $34.8 million, and everybody else is at $20 million or below.
For a team trying to get back to the playoffs, paying a star that much usually makes sense. The question here is whether Morant is actually the kind of star Portland can justify building around.
CBS Sports analyst Sam Quinn drew a hard line on what Morant has to be to earn that money.
"He has to be your primary ball handler in order to justify this contract. If he's going to be your primary ball handler, all of that value has to come from the pressure that he puts on the rim.
He has not been getting to the rim at an elite level for several years now. If he can't do that, now suddenly you're looking at a player that can't even really be a role player," CBS Sports analyst Sam Quinn said.
"... When you're talking about that kind of player profile, if you're not somebody you can build an offense around and you can't be a role player, that's a backup-level player.
Ja Morant is of such stature in the NBA that I don't think he would ever be comfortable being a backup. We'll see how that goes for Portland this season."
That tension is what makes Portland such an interesting case. Morant, Damian Lillard and Deni Avdija all bring enough on-ball value that the Blazers may have to figure out how to sort out the touches without stepping on anyone’s game. It’s not really about a simple pecking order, but the reality is that all three are at their best when the ball is in their hands.
Lillard remains the all-time leading scorer in Blazers history, and even after an Achilles injury in 2025, there’s still a belief he can play like one of the best in the league. Avdija is coming off the first All-Star season of his career and helped lead Portland to the playoffs for the first time in five years.
Morant, meanwhile, has spent his career as the guy, not the sidekick. Portland may try to turn him into something different.
If that works, the contract starts to make more sense. If it doesn’t, the Blazers could be paying premium money for a player whose best fit is still an open question.
In Other News...
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The Clippers offseason has gone from ambitious to unsettled in a hurry, and Portland has a reason to watch closely. After the NBA ruled Los Angeles violated salary cap circumvention rules, the franchise was hit with a major fine and the loss of future draft flexibility, while Kawhi Leonard was fined but avoided suspension. Even with the punishment, the Clippers still have a few important assets on hand, including unprotected first-rounders from Toronto in 2031 and 2033, which keeps them from being completely stripped of ways to reshape the roster.
For the Trail Blazers, the bigger question is what this chaos does to the Clippers long-term plan and the kinds of players they may be forced to move in response. A team that entered the summer trying to stay competitive now has to manage damage control around a league penalty and the looming possibility of more roster change, including Leonards expected move to Toronto. If Los Angeles starts adjusting quickly, Portland could find itself in position to benefit from a market that suddenly looks a lot less stable than it did a week ago. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Draft Regret Just Made The Scoot Henderson Debate Heavier
The Scoot Henderson discussion in Portland has gotten a little heavier, because the clock is now ticking toward a decision the Trail Blazers cannot avoid for long. Henderson, the former No. 3 overall pick, is eligible for a rookie-scale extension before the 2026-27 season, which means the Blazers will eventually have to decide whether to commit to the player they chose at the top of that draft and continue building around him.
What makes the conversation sting a bit more is what came right after Portlands pick. Amen Thompson, taken one slot later by the Houston Rockets, has already been rewarded with a lucrative long-term extension, a reminder of the talent the Blazers passed over and the kind of athletic two-way presence that could have changed the look of their roster. Whether Portland still feels confident in Henderson is one debate; the fact that Thompson is now locked in elsewhere only makes the alternative harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]