Ja Morant walked into Media Day with a big number in mind: 82.
Asked about his goals for the upcoming 2026-27 season, the Portland Trail Blazers’ new point guard said he wants to play every game on the schedule.
"82 games," Morant answered."I was telling Tou that I'm trying to get in his category of playing 82 for whatever his streak is right now. So we're in that weight room."
That nod to Toumani Camara fits. Camara earned real respect last season by appearing in all 82 games, and he played 78 the year before. Morant, meanwhile, is coming off a stretch that tells a very different story.
Over the last three seasons, Morant has played 9 games, then 50, then 20. That adds up to 79 total appearances across three years, which makes his push to top that number in a single season with Portland feel at least a little audacious.
It also shines a light on the real downside of the deal that brought him to the Blazers.
The fit questions are obvious enough, but Portland also took on a meaningful health gamble by betting on Morant. His talent gives the Blazers a clear upgrade over Jerami Grant and Kris Murray, and in that sense they won the trade in a vacuum. But the upside comes bundled with risk, and plenty of it.
Morant is now the highest-paid player on Portland’s roster, with $42.2 million owed this season and $44.9 million in 2027-28. If everything breaks right, he becomes another bold Joe Cronin swing that pays off. If it doesn’t, the Blazers could be staring at a player who never gets back to his old All-Star level and still can’t stay on the floor.
Portland already had to work through the Jerami Grant situation as a negative asset, and Grant eventually improved enough to become movable after a relative bounce-back year. But the Blazers also swapped him for an even riskier negative asset in Morant, just one with a higher ceiling.
If Morant’s availability keeps being a problem and he never gets close to that 82-game target, Portland’s path to moving on from this reclamation project gets a lot harder.
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The biggest questions are concentrated in the backcourt, where the team has more proven guard talent than obvious answers. Ja Morants arrival gives Portland another high-end option to fit alongside a veteran core, but it also raises the stakes for how the rotation will be shaped and who settles into the most important minutes as camp unfolds. [Read more 🡒]