The Portland Trail Blazers made the kind of move that forces everyone to stop and stare, but the more the dust settles, the harder it is to shake the same feeling: they may have had the right ambition and landed on the wrong player.
When Portland swung the blockbuster deal with the Memphis Grizzlies for Ja Morant, the immediate reaction was less about fit and more about surprise. The trade dropped Morant into a backcourt that already felt crowded, and that naturally sparked questions about whether the Blazers had another move lined up to make the roster make sense.
Jrue Holiday was the name that popped up right away as a more obvious trade candidate. Portland quickly poured cold water on that idea, telling teams Morant’s arrival did not change Holiday’s availability. So unless something unexpected happens, the Blazers are set to head into the 2026-27 season with Morant as the big addition and only smaller tweaks likely coming, especially on the frontcourt side.
That leaves Portland with a roster puzzle that only got messier.
The biggest issue is how this move intersects with Deni Avdija, who just came off an All-Star season and should have been the player the franchise built around this summer. Instead of maximizing his growth with more shooting and room to operate as a point forward, Portland brought in a 30 percent three-point shooter who clogs the floor and takes the ball out of Avdija’s hands. Morant’s contract only adds to the strain, with $87 million owed over the next two years, making it harder for the Blazers to keep flexibility for a future renegotiation and extension for Avdija.
That part of the deal is where the risk really lives.
Portland also didn’t exactly open itself up financially by making the move, and the front office didn’t do much to simplify what comes next. Still, there is at least some logic in the attempt.
The Blazers needed to do something if they wanted to push their ceiling higher. As talented as their young core is, it was never going to catch the Western Conference heavyweights like the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder by staying exactly as it was.
Morant gives them a swing at narrowing that talent gap.
But the roster questions haven’t gone away. If anything, they’ve multiplied.
Portland still hasn’t made a follow-up move to address its lack of wing depth, and the possible paths all come with their own complications, whether that means moving Holiday, Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, or someone else. Then there’s the fact that Sharpe’s torn meniscus makes the whole backcourt picture even harder to untangle.
So the Blazers are clearly still in long-game mode. This looks like a transitional 2026-27 season, one built around figuring out a crowded, awkward backcourt and sorting through the consequences of the Morant deal. First-year head coach Micah Nori has plenty to sort through.
There’s also the bigger question hanging over the move: does the upside of Morant outweigh the danger of slowing Avdija’s development and possibly pushing him toward 2028 free agency? And what happens to Portland’s defensive identity if the backcourt becomes an undersized mix of Morant and Damian Lillard?
Those are the kinds of questions this trade leaves behind. Not a clean answer.
Not a clean roster. Just a team that took a real swing, then stopped short of fully finishing the job.
Right idea, wrong player.
In Other News...
Ja Morants Blazers Future Suddenly Feels Far Less Simple
Ja Morants move to Portland already carried the feel of a franchise trying to thread a difficult needle, and the arrival of a star-level guard only sharpened the questions around how the roster will actually work. With Memphis choosing to rebuild, the Blazers have added a high-profile piece to a backcourt that already has plenty of moving parts, all while trying to make the most of Damian Lillards final years and keep one eye on the future.
Channing Fryes recent read on the situation only added to the uncertainty, because Morants fit in Portland may be about more than just basketball on the floor. If the Blazers decide the quickest path to flexibility is to turn his value into future draft picks and talent, the biggest storyline may be less about how he plays alongside Lillard and more about how long he stays part of the plan. [Read more 🡒]