The Portland Trail Blazers are heading into a new era later this month, and Donovan Clingan sits right at the center of it.
Portland has a new owner, a new coach, a new high-profile trade acquisition and a fresh set of expectations after finishing seventh in the Western Conference and reaching the playoffs for the first time in five years. Media day is set for September 28, and the Blazers are rolling out daily roster snapshots to frame the season ahead. After starting with Damian Lillard, the focus now shifts to Clingan.
At 7-foot-2 and 280 pounds, Clingan enters his third NBA season at age 22 with his role already defined: starting center. He’s slated to make roughly $7.5 million this season in the third year of his rookie contract, and the numbers from last season tell you why Portland is leaning on him so heavily. He posted 12.1 points, 11.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.7 blocks while playing in 77 games, second-most on the team.
That durability mattered in a season full of injuries, but Clingan’s impact went well beyond availability. The No. 7 pick in the 2024 NBA draft took over as the Blazers’ full-time starter last season and quickly established himself as one of the franchise’s core pieces.
He became a force on the glass, leading the entire league with 892 total rebounds and 347 offensive rebounds, while also topping the NBA in contested shots per game at 13.4. He finished second in second-chance points at 4.4 per game and fifth in blocks at 1.7.
Clingan also showed real growth on the offensive end. As a rookie, he barely had a perimeter game.
Last season, he made 84 of 246 from three-point range, a jump of 70 makes from year one. That added dimension gave Portland something new to work with, even if his scoring still needs to evolve.
The next step is obvious. If Clingan is going to grow into an elite center, he has to do more than clean up misses and finish put-backs around the rim.
He also has to deal with the kind of mobile, floor-spacing bigs that gave him trouble last season, especially in the playoffs. In that series, he averaged just 7.0 points and 7.8 rebounds and saw minutes go to Robert Williams III.
Even with that wrinkle, the Blazers still view Clingan’s defense and presence in the paint as essential under first-year coach Micah Nori. His leap from his first season to his second suggests there’s more coming, and Portland’s front line looks imposing with Clingan and Williams together.
In Other News...
Clippers Trade Idea Puts A Price Tag On A Useful Veteran
The Trail Blazers are still sorting out the edges of their roster, and a new trade idea puts a familiar veteran name into the conversation as they look for more stability at center and forward. Portland has been navigating a depth chart that could still use reinforcement, while the other side of the proposal is a Clippers team in need of draft capital and younger pieces after being hit with penalties tied to salary cap circumvention.
In that framework, the suggested swap would move Yang Hansen, Vit Krejci, and two 2027 second-round picks to Los Angeles. For Portland, it would be a buy-now move aimed at adding a useful veteran without waiting on longer-term development, but the real question is whether the Blazers see enough upside in paying that price to make the idea more than just a tidy piece of trade-board math. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Future In Portland Suddenly Feels Far Less Secure
The Trail Blazers long-term footing in Portland got an unmistakable public nudge from the league office this week, with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stressing that keeping the franchise in the city is the goal. Silver framed a possible relocation as a setback for everyone involved and pointed to the importance of landing a workable arena agreement with local and state officials if the team is going to stay on solid ground.
The timing makes the matter even more delicate. Portlands arena funding commitment runs out at the end of the year, and a city council vote is set for December, leaving the franchise facing a crucial stretch as it tries to line up a path forward. For a team that has long been tied to the citys identity, the next few weeks may go a long way toward determining just how secure that future really is. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Arena Plan Still Hinges On One Funding Decision
Multnomah County is still sorting through how to cover its $101.6 million share of the $600 million Moda Center renovation, and commissioners spent part of the week weighing four different paths to get there. The options ranged from no tax increase at all to modest bumps in either the rental car tax or the hotel tax, as county officials continue looking for revenue sources that can make up for property tax revenue tied to the arena deal.
The discussion underscored how much of the Blazers arena future now depends on one funding decision the county has yet to make a final call on. Officials have been wary of leaning too hard on the hotel tax given current occupancy rates, and the county still has not scheduled a vote, leaving the renovation plan in a familiar holding pattern while the money side of the agreement works itself out. [Read more 🡒]