With Matisse Thybulle gone, the Trail Blazers have a wing-sized hole to patch, and Vit Krejci suddenly looks a lot more important than he did a few weeks ago.
Thybulle’s departure to the Los Angeles Lakers via free agency leaves Portland without a veteran bench piece who had become a fan favorite in Rip City. The fit wasn’t perfect - there were real questions about his shooting and his availability - but the feeling around the team was that Portland should have kept him.
Instead, the Blazers are left to sort out their wing depth from the inside. The open market isn’t offering much at this stage of the offseason, with names like Ochai Agbaji and Lindy Waters III floating around, and Portland’s roster is already crowded with guards. That puts the spotlight on Krejci, who will be asked to fill a bigger role off the bench.
That’s a notable shift for a player who didn’t exactly win over the crowd in his first run with the team. Portland acquired Krejci at the 2026 trade deadline, and the move drew criticism because he was the club’s marquee addition.
He didn’t do much to silence that noise. His shooting, usually his calling card, went cold late in the season, his minutes dwindled, and by playoff time he was out of the rotation entirely.
The good news for Portland is that Krejci wasn’t essential last season. The bad news is that 2026-27 looks very different. As things stand, the 26-year-old is set to be leaned on heavily as a backup wing, and the Blazers need him to be better.
At his best, Krejci brings exactly the kind of skill set this roster can use: movement shooting, smart connective play, and enough defensive sturdiness to stay on the floor. He’s the sort of role player Ja Morant, Damian Lillard, and Deni Avdija need around them.
His rough finish last spring was hard to ignore, but the broader track record still points to a reliable shooter. Portland is banking on that version showing up again, with the hope that his production swings back toward his Atlanta form next season.
If Krejci can’t hold down that spot, the options behind him get thin fast. Sidy Cissoko, for one, doesn’t look like a clean fit with the rest of the roster.
In Other News...
Blazers Just Lost A Key Defensive Wing In Free Agency
Matisse Thybulles run in Portland had the feel of a useful fit that never quite got the clean runway it deserved. Injuries kept interrupting his time with the Trail Blazers, but when he was on the floor, he gave them the kind of perimeter defense and disruptive energy that mattered during the teams late-season push toward the playoffs.
Now the Blazers have to replace that edge after Thybulle moved on in free agency on a one-year deal with the Lakers. Portland had explored a reunion, but only on non-guaranteed terms, a sign of how carefully the front office is balancing roster flexibility against the value of a wing who can still tilt games on the defensive end. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Arena Standoff Just Took A Much More Alarming Turn
The talks over the Moda Center have reached a far more delicate stage, with the Portland Trail Blazers and the city still trying to hammer out a 20-year lease tied to $600 million in public funding for renovations. The citys proposal includes annual payments and union labor requirements, but the two sides have not been on the same page, leaving a deal that was supposed to secure the buildings future looking increasingly unsettled.
For the Blazers, the concern is no longer just the terms on the table in Portland. The team has reportedly started looking at other arena possibilities, including the possibility of a different arrangement in the city, which is a sign of how much leverage and uncertainty now hangs over the negotiations. For a franchise that wants clarity on its long-term home, the standoff has become a lot more than a routine civic dispute. [Read more 🡒]