The Trail Blazers have one of their bigger rotation questions sitting right on the wing, and Jeremy Sochan may end up answering it during training camp.
Portland’s 2026-27 backcourt already looks crowded with Damian Lillard, Ja Morant, Jrue Holiday, and Scoot Henderson all in the mix, but the wing and frontcourt overlap is its own headache. Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara appear locked in as starters, yet the team still has to sort out who handles the bulk of the backup minutes at the three and the four.
Sochan, who recently joined the Blazers for training camp, is the swing piece. If he makes the final roster, it changes the shape of the bench and gives Portland another option in a spot that already has several names fighting for time.
Shaedon Sharpe, Vit Krejci, Sidy Cissoko, and Sochan are the main players in that battle, with John Tonje as a deep sleeper. Sharpe should get the largest share of the available minutes, especially with two of Lillard, Morant, Holiday, and Henderson expected to occupy the backcourt for most of the 48 minutes each night. That would push Sharpe, who is mainly a shooting guard, into more minutes at the three.
The backup power forward job is where things get especially interesting. If the Blazers give Sochan a regular season contract, that would signal real trust in the former ninth overall pick, and he would likely take those available four minutes to begin the season.
There’s a catch, though: Sochan’s lack of shooting could make some of Portland’s lineups tricky, especially with other questionable spacers like Robert Williams, Ja Morant, and Toumani Camara, even if Camara does take another step from deep. That could shrink the number of lineups Sochan fits into and leave him out of certain matchups entirely.
If that happens, Krejci would be next up, with Tonje also a possibility. The difference between Sochan and Krejci isn’t huge, and Krejci may even be the better player, which gives Portland some flexibility to move between them based on the matchup.
If Sochan doesn’t stick, the path becomes much clearer for Cissoko. The 22-year-old is coming off a breakout campaign and would be ready to keep climbing. If Sochan doesn’t impress enough in camp, Portland could waive him and still feel fine with Cissoko in the mix.
The problem is that Cissoko and Sochan are similar enough that they don’t really fit together all that well. Both can be liabilities from three, so if Cissoko ends up as the backup power forward, he could wind up sharing that role with Krejci too.
In the end, this is really about a small slice of the rotation - roughly 15 minutes per game. But those minutes matter, and the Blazers will have to decide whether Sochan or someone else gives them the best lift off the bench next season.
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