As the Portland Trail Blazers’ 2026-2027 roster starts coming into focus, a few names still don’t have a clean path to minutes.
The backcourt is crowded after Damian Lillard and Ja Morant joined the mix, and Shaedon Sharpe’s extended absence only adds another layer of uncertainty. Up front, the picture is just as hazy with Donovan Clingan, Robert Williams III and Yang Hansen all in the center picture.
That leaves several players stuck in between, waiting to see where first-year head coach Micah Nori actually uses them.
Caleb Potter is one of the more interesting cases. The Blazers picked him up off waivers from the Indiana Pacers in July, and the 6-foot-9 forward, listed as a center, arrives with five seasons of NBA experience. In 111 career games, he has averaged 6.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and one assist per game.
His appeal is pretty obvious. Potter logged most of his meaningful run last season in Indiana, where he averaged 19.3 minutes and attempted a career-high 3.6 3-pointers per game. He knocked those down at a 42.3 percent clip, and that kind of shooting is part of why Portland brought him in after years of shaky perimeter work.
Still, his role depends on how Nori wants to build out the bench. The Blazers have a glut of guards, and only three other forwards on the roster right now in Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara and Jeremy Sochan, with Sochan on a training-camp deal. Potter could end up as a bigger bench shooter, but if Nori leans into smaller lineups, his minutes could get squeezed.
Then there’s Ashton Carlson, who signed a one-year deal in July and is listed as a 7-foot center. The issue is simple: he’s walking into a room with Clingan, Williams and Yang Hansen already in it.
Carlson spent his first two NBA seasons in Oklahoma City and played in 42 games last year, starting four. He averaged 5.8 points and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 52.7 percent from the field. He could just be insurance if one of the bigs ahead of him gets hurt, though there’s also a path where he jumps Hansen and becomes the third center in the rotation.
Hansen’s own situation is still unsettled, and the return of Williams only makes it murkier. The Blazers’ 2025 first-round pick averaged 2.2 points and 1.5 rebounds in 43 games last season, which is not what anyone expects from a pick that high.
There has been plenty of buzz around Hansen, with the constant talk that he could be the Chinese Nikola Jokic. His play with China this summer only fueled that chatter heading into the fall.
But last season, when he got his chances, he looked mostly ineffective. With Williams healthy again and Clingan taking a big step last year, Hansen may be fighting for court time all over again.
Dalano Krejci is in a different kind of bind. Acquired at the trade deadline last season, he was supposed to help solve Portland’s shooting issues from deep. Instead, he appeared in just 19 games and hit 30.3 percent from 3-point range after shooting 41.9 percent over four seasons in Atlanta.
Now the guard group is even more crowded with Lillard and Morant back in the picture. That raises the obvious question of where Krejci fits, especially with Holiday, Henderson and even Sidy Cissoko all needing looks. And with Potter added, the Blazers may not even need to keep a pure shooter like Krejci around.
Cissoko was one of the better surprises of Portland’s 2025-2026 season. He turned a two-way contract into a two-year deal after averaging a career-high 5.1 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 75 games, including 25 starts.
His growth mattered, and fans noticed. But no one is likely to feel the squeeze from the additions of Lillard and Morant more than him. The big question now is simple: when does he play?
Sharpe’s long-term injury opens a little room, but Cissoko still has Holiday and Henderson ahead of him, and Krejci could also soak up some scoring minutes off the bench. Nori may value Cissoko’s defense and toughness, the same traits that define Holiday’s game, which could lead to some defensive-specific usage. Even so, his role remains very much up in the air.
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Blazers Playoff Hopes Come Down To One Uncomfortable Reality
The Trail Blazers did enough over the regular season and Play-In Tournament to reach the 2025-26 NBA Playoffs as the Wests No. 7 seed, a step forward that should have signaled real staying power. Instead, the conversation around Portland has quickly shifted to whether that breakthrough is built to last, especially with questions lingering about ownership direction, coaching stability and how well the roster actually fits together.
One anonymous NBA scout put the unease in blunt terms, framing Portland as a team he expects to slide back out of the playoff mix. At the center of it all is an awkward balancing act: whether Ja Morant and Damian Lillard can stay healthy and find a way to coexist while Deni Avdija remains the clubs primary offensive engine. If that combination does not settle quickly, the Blazers could discover how thin the margin is between a feel-good spring and a much harsher reality. [Read more 🡒]
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Among the possibilities being floated are Denver, Chicago and Portland, with the Trail Blazers included because of their guard situation and the broader way their roster has been taking shape. Portland also recently moved on from guards Mark Sears and Barry Dunning, which only adds to the sense that there could be room for another look, even if nothing has been decided yet. [Read more 🡒]
Jeremy Sochan Puts Blazers Camp Battle In Sharp Focus
Jeremy Sochan arrives in Portland with the kind of profile that usually gets a closer look in training camp: young enough to develop, experienced enough to matter, and versatile enough to fit a roster that can always use another defender. The 23-year-old forward is entering his fifth NBA season after signing a one-year, non-guaranteed contract, and the Trail Blazers are clearly viewing him as a possible answer behind the main rotation rather than a finished product.
What makes Sochan intriguing is the same thing that makes his path uneasy. Portland likes the defensive flexibility he can bring by guarding multiple positions, but the offensive side of his game remains a limitation, which puts real weight on how he looks in camp and how he fits into the depth picture. For a team sorting through its backup forward options, his presence adds another layer to a competition that could come down to who can do the most without needing the ball. [Read more 🡒]