The modern NBA has made one thing painfully clear: wings run the show. Teams chase size, versatility and switchability because the game keeps turning into a hunt for the right mismatch, and the best offenses are built around those jumbo initiators who can bend a defense.
That’s why players like Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Cade Cunningham and now Deni Avdija matter so much. They can create the kind of problems defenses never quite solve.
Portland, though, still looks like a team trying to catch up to that reality.
The Blazers did get some things right last season. Their shot profile was strong, and Micah Nori called that out at his introductory press conference.
Under Tiago Splitter, Portland also launched the third-most three-pointers per game, trailing only the Golden State Warriors and Charlotte Hornets. But volume is only part of the equation, and the gap between those attempts and the team’s efficiency makes it obvious the roster still needs to align more cleanly with how Portland wants to play.
That becomes even more obvious with the latest additions. The Blazers brought in another non-floor spacer in Morant, who just posted a career-worst 23.5 percent from three. That’s where the fit gets messy, because the roster is already crowded with ball-dominant guards and not enough of the kind of wings the league values most.
There are real questions about how all of this fits together, both on offense and defense. It’s tough to picture Morant working defensively next to Damian Lillard, and offensively his downhill style overlaps with Avdija’s in ways that create more redundancy than clarity. Portland now finds itself with a backcourt logjam and a lot more uncertainty than answers as it heads into a season where the organization appears willing to let the picture sort itself out.
That patience may give the Blazers time to evaluate where things stand with players like Shaeadon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson, with Henderson also eligible for a rookie-scale extension. But the bigger point is hard to miss: Portland has ended up with four point guards because it still doesn’t feel settled on any one of them as the long-term answer.
The thinking behind the moves is understandable. Portland took a low-risk shot on Morant returning to his pre-injury form and looking closer to the two-time All-Star he was in Memphis.
The team also doesn’t know what it will get from Lillard this season after his Achilles tear. Holiday remains in the picture too, even if the Blazers are not buying him out and he could become a trade candidate as the season goes on.
And then there’s the reality that Henderson didn’t meet the expectations that come with being the No. 3 overall pick.
The frontcourt has its own version of the same problem. Portland is still trying to sort out depth behind the injury-prone Robert Williams III, and the first-round Yang Hansen gamble has not paid off so far.
Extending Williams was a smart move because of the injury protections built into his three-year, $44 million deal. The Blazers also added former Thunder big man Branden Carlson, who could realistically open the season ahead of Hansen on the depth chart.
Even now, Portland still has to settle its frontcourt rotation and finish building out the 15-man roster. Non-guaranteed deals such as Micah Potter and Jeremy Sochan remain in the mix. The need for depth behind Williams was real, and Hansen simply wasn’t reliable enough to fill that role for a team trying to win now.
So the Blazers have addressed some long-term questions. They’ve searched for answers in the backcourt, and they’ve kept investing in Hansen as a multi-year project. Those choices do help the rebuild, because they force the organization to learn what it has and what it still needs.
But the roster that’s taking shape is heavy on point guards and centers in a league where wings carry the premium. Avdija and Toumani Camara give Portland two clear building blocks, and the Blazers don’t need to pretend otherwise.
Still, losing Jerami Grant, Kris Murray and Matisse Thybulle this summer stripped away more of the two-way wing depth they could least afford to lose. Sidy Cissoko can only cover so much ground.
That’s the problem. Portland has depth, but a lot of it is stacked at the same positions.
Positionless basketball doesn’t mean you can simply throw Morant and Lillard together and ignore the defensive issues that would almost certainly matter in the postseason. What it really means is valuing versatile wings like James and Avdija, players who can slide across roles and make lineups flexible.
Right now, Portland isn’t fully taking advantage of that with Avdija and Camara because the wing group around them is too thin. They’re mostly boxed into the three and four spots while the rest of the roster tilts elsewhere.
The Blazers may clean some of this up over time, and they’ve at least built a solid base through their trades for Avdija and Camara. But the next step is obvious: keep adding versatile wing depth.
In today’s NBA, that’s not a luxury. It’s the currency of a serious roster.
In Other News...
Damian Lillard Trade Still Defines Where The Blazers Are Headed
The Damian Lillard era in Portland ended the way so many franchise pivots do, with a trade that was years in the making and impossible to separate from the teams larger direction. After spending so long trying to build around him, the Trail Blazers finally sent Lillard to Milwaukee in 2023, taking back a package that signaled a new phase for the roster and a willingness to move on from the old core rather than keep chasing it.
What has made the deal linger is how quickly the basketball ecosystem around it shifted, with Lillards time in Milwaukee producing its own new chapter before Portland found itself back in familiar territory with both Lillard and Jrue Holiday in the picture. It has created a strange full-circle feel for the Blazers, one that keeps the trade at the center of any conversation about where the franchise went, what it gained, and how much of that old partnership still hangs over the present. [Read more 🡒]
Damian Lillards Portland Return Just Got More Complicated
Damian Lillard is gearing up for an NBA return in the 2026-27 season after missing the previous year with a ruptured Achilles, and the comeback conversation in Portland is already taking shape. The Trail Blazers, who recently acquired Ja Morant, are expected to make Lillard a priority when he is ready to play again, a reminder that his place in the franchise picture remains a major part of the plan.
Lillard has reportedly been putting in the work this offseason to give himself the best shot at making the return count, even as questions linger about his age and injury history. For Portland, the challenge is less about whether Lillard still matters and more about how to balance that reality with a roster that has changed around him, leaving his next chapter with the team very much in motion. [Read more 🡒]
The Blazers Trade That Still Shapes Portland Right Now
More than a decade later, one old trade still sits at the center of how Portland thinks about its roster. In 2012, the Trail Blazers sent Gerald Wallace to the New Jersey Nets and brought back Sean Williams, Mehmet Okur, and the first-round pick that became Damian Lillard, the franchise-defining guard who went on to become the teams all-time leading scorer and carry Portland to multiple playoff appearances.
Lillards eventual trade to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2023 did not close the book on that deal so much as extend its reach. The Blazers have kept building around the assets and movement that followed, adding pieces such as Toumani Camara, Jrue Holiday, Malcolm Brogdon and Deni Avdija, along with future pick swaps that still shape what Portland can do next. [Read more 🡒]