Donovan Clingan has turned himself into the kind of cornerstone Portland thought it had in Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson.
That reality says plenty about where the Trail Blazers are in their rebuild. The team appears willing to move toward the 2026-27 season with a crowded backcourt, which is a pretty clear sign that the real foundation of this roster has formed up front.
Sharpe and Henderson were supposed to be the headliners. Instead, the frontcourt has become the strength, thanks to the trades for Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara and the 2024 draft hit on Clingan.
Among all of Portland’s young pieces, Clingan is the one the franchise has absolutely gotten right. The UConn big man has given the Blazers something they can build around with confidence, and that matters even more in an offseason where they’ve been able to make other moves knowing their defensive anchor is already in place.
That matters for a roster that could feature Ja Morant and Damian Lillard in the backcourt. It’s a talented pairing, but it’s also an awkward one.
If there’s a way to make it work, Clingan is a big part of it. His ability to control the middle gives Portland a safety net, especially if Morant or Lillard can’t consistently stay in front of their man.
The Blazers leaned a little more toward offense this offseason by adding more playmaking in Morant, but Clingan helps preserve the defensive identity that still exists on this roster. He’s not doing it alone, either. Robert Williams III is part of that group of defensive playmakers, and Portland brought him back on a three-year, $44 million extension - a move that made sense because of the injury protections and the uncertainty behind Clingan on the depth chart.
That uncertainty is why Portland has drawn some criticism for the amount of size it has collected, especially after adding Micah Potter, Branden Carlson, and Jeremy Sochan. But none of that changes the main point: Clingan is not being squeezed out.
He has a clear starting job and real minutes waiting for him. The depth around him is there to support his development, not block it, with Williams serving more as a temporary solution until Yang Hansen is ready.
The same logic does not apply to the backcourt. There, the veterans are projected to sit ahead of Sharpe and Henderson on the depth chart, and the picture is much less settled.
The frontcourt looks like a deliberate tangle with a purpose. The backcourt looks more like an ongoing trial run, with Portland tossing imperfect combinations into the mix to see what actually works.
That contrast also tells you where Clingan stands in the pecking order. He’s already earned a starting role as an immediate impact player, which puts him well ahead of Portland’s young guards in terms of roster status. Avdija has become the face of the rebuild, but Clingan and Camara are right there behind him in that next tier.
And Clingan backed that status up with his second-year jump. His numbers improved across the board, and the 34.1 percent he shot from deep only added to the intrigue.
Even before that, he looked like one of the safest bets in a shaky 2024 draft because his size and physical tools fit so cleanly with his best traits: rebounding and rim protection. What he showed this past season was something more than safety.
It hinted at a ceiling Portland may not have fully seen coming.
The analytics and per-36 production from his rookie year already pointed toward a breakout once Deandre Ayton’s buyout opened up more opportunity. Clingan delivered on that expectation and locked himself in as a true building block for the Blazers.
At 22, he still looks early in the process, and that’s what makes this so encouraging for Portland. If his offense keeps closing the gap with his elite defense, the Blazers may have a future All-Star on their hands.
In Other News...
Shaedon Sharpes Blazers Future Just Became A Real Debate
Shaedon Sharpes place in Portland has gone from cornerstone certainty to something more complicated as the roster around him shifts again. With the Trail Blazers reshaping their backcourt and looking toward the 2026-27 season, there is a real question about how much runway Sharpe will have if bigger names and returning veterans occupy the prime minutes and usage.
That is why his future has started to come up in trade talk, even without any official move on the table. Portland may eventually decide that dealing Sharpe makes more sense for salary-cap flexibility and for lining up the roster with its longer-term timeline, and that possibility alone has turned him into one of the more interesting names to watch as the Blazers sort out what kind of team they want to be. [Read more 🡒]
Ja Morant Could Create A New Blazers Dilemma Around Deni Avdija
Ja Morant would give Portland a very different kind of offense, and that is exactly why the fit around Deni Avdija is such a fascinating one. The Blazers are looking at the possibility of adding a guard who can change the geometry of the floor, but also one whose style demands the ball and can reshape how everyone else is asked to play. For a team trying to build a clearer identity, the attraction is obvious, because Morant could open up a new dimension the current roster does not already have.
Deni Avdija is part of what makes the conversation tricky, though, because Portland still has to think about how his development fits into a hierarchy that might tilt heavily toward a new lead creator. The challenge is not just blending talents, but making sure the offense has enough structure and spacing to let both players do more than overlap. For the Blazers, the real issue may be less about whether the pieces are good and more about whether they can be arranged in a way that helps both players grow without one getting squeezed. [Read more 🡒]