The Ja Morant trade changed the picture in Portland, and Scoot Henderson is now staring at a much tighter window to prove he belongs in it.
The Blazers already have Damian Lillard set to return from injury, and Jrue Holiday will also demand heavy minutes. Add Morant to that mix, and it’s fair to wonder where Henderson fits. He’s entering the final year of his rookie contract, too, which means Portland can extend him before the regular season opener or let him head toward restricted free agency in the summer of 2027.
That makes this season feel a lot bigger for the 22-year-old guard. The Blazers can commit fully to a backcourt built around Morant, Lillard, and Holiday, but Henderson was taken third overall in 2023 for a reason.
The upside is still there. Now he has to show it.
His 2025-26 season started with a setback that cost him 51 games because of a hamstring tear. When he finally got back on the floor, the early returns were uneven, but he closed strong.
Over his final 18 games, the 6-foot-3 guard put up 15.9 points, 3.3 assists, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 26.2 minutes per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from 3-point range. That stretch could be a small sample, or it could be the first real hint of a breakout.
Portland is still waiting to see which version of Henderson shows up more often. He found some success in a score-first role late last season, and that’s the lane he may need to stay in now, no matter which veteran guard he’s paired with. Morant is a former All-Star who has already shown he can carry a team to the playoffs, and the Blazers seem prepared to put the offense in his hands.
Henderson has flashed what that kind of role can look like. He scored 70 points across his first three playoff games before managing only five over the final two.
The talent is obvious, but the growing pains are still part of the package. Portland needs more than flashes; it needs him to prove he can get to 15 points a night and help win games.
The concerns aren’t hard to see. His defense, inefficiency, and playmaking issues have left the Blazers unsure what kind of long-term player they have. Last season, he posted a career-high 0.0 value over replacement player, which is hardly the kind of number that settles a team down when playoff expectations are in the air.
And then there’s the market reality. Restricted free agency is a messy place to land, as players like Jalen Duren, Bennedict Mathurin, and Peyton Watson are experiencing this summer.
Josh Giddey, Jonathan Kuminga, and Quentin Grimes went through it last year. With the second apron squeezing every dollar, outside teams often hesitate to make real offers.
That’s part of why this season carries so much weight for Henderson. If he puts together the kind of year that shows star potential, other teams will take a gamble on him.
Portland might even decide he’s worth keeping long term. But if the leap doesn’t come, the Blazers could go in another direction.
He knows what’s at stake. The injury slowed him down last season, and now he has to show that his late surge wasn’t a mirage. With Morant on the roster and the pressure climbing, Henderson is running out of time to make his case in Portland.
In Other News...
Scoot Henderson Debate Is Back For Blazers Fans
The Blazers 2023 draft call is back in the conversation now that The Hoop Collective ran a redraft of the lottery and slid Scoot Henderson down to No. 9, a sharp drop from where Portland took him at No. 3. It is the kind of exercise that always invites second-guessing, but it lands a little harder in Portland because the selection came right as the Damian Lillard era was ending and the organization was pivoting into a full rebuild.
For Blazers fans, the comparison point is not just Hendersons draft slot, but the alternatives that went after him, including Brandon Miller, who some analysts viewed as a better fit. Still, Henderson has shown growth in parts of his game and remains a central piece of Portlands young core, which is why the debate is less about whether he can help this team and more about whether the Blazers maximized the No. 3 pick when they made it. [Read more 🡒]