The 2024-25 NBA season is here! We break down the biggest questions, best and worst case scenarios and fantasy prospects for all 30 teams. Enjoy!
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
2023-24 end
Offseason moves
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Additions: Deni Avdija, Donovan Clingan, Bryce McGowans
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Subtractions: Malcolm Brogdon, Ibou Badji, Moses Brown, Ashton Hagans
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Complete roster
The Big Question: Is there really a cornerstone here?
When you’re a fan of a really bad team in the middle of a rebuild, what you’re looking for is a reason to believe. Something to cling to as a vessel for your hopes of a better future, and ideally someone: Devin Booker on the pre-CP3 Suns, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the early decade Thunder, Victor Wembanyama on last year’s Spurs, et al.
It isn’t shocking that Portland doesn’t really have that yet, barely a year removed from the franchise-shaking decision to say goodbye to Damian Lillard. But after finishing with the worst record of the West in Year 1 post-Dame – the Blazers fourth sub-.500 finish in the last five seasons — this roster still looks very much like a collection of free-floating celestial bodies looking for a big bright shining star to pull it into a proper prescribed orbit.
The Blazers’ two highest-paid players, forward Jerami Grant and center Deandre Ayton, are both productive veterans, but neither profiles that kind of organizational principle. Ayton came on late in his first season at Oregon, averaging 22.7 points and 12.5 rebounds per game after the All-Star break; his long-term prognosis in Portland became considerably cloudier, however, when the Blazers drafted the 7-foot-2 Clinga with the seventh overall pick in June’s 2024 NBA Draft.
Grant, one of only five players averaging 20 points per game and shooting 40% from 3-point land in each of the last two seasons, might as well be player of interest on the business market … if would-be suitors can figure out a way to accept the rest of her massive five-year, $160 million without the apron malfunctioning. For his part, Avdija (who played very well last season, although in almost total anonymity in a bad Wizards team without much national profile) occupies a similar space to Grant – a capable combo forward that can plug several gaps on both ends of the. floor, but more a star-in-his-own-role complementary piece than a true No. 1.
Anfernee Simons has the athleticism, high-volume/high-accuracy 3-point shooting touch and off-the-jump scoring juice to potentially develop into a top option. (His per-possession production over the last few seasons actually lines up pretty well with what Lillard endured at the same age.) But a smaller combo guard who is more of a natural scorer than playmaker (he hovered around a good but not great 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio). since it became a beginner) and roaring fire engine-red target at the other end (a killed of advanced defensive metrics marked him as one of the league’s worst defenders last season) is a tough piece to build around unless he’s an unquestionably top offensive talent. (And, honestly, even then. See “Hawks, Atlanta.”)
The spotlight, therefore, falls on the Blazers others two highly touted young guards: 21-year-old Shaedon Sharpe and 20-year-old Scoot Henderson. Sharpe’s promising start to his second season – nearly 19 points, six rebounds and four assists per game on .550 true shooting through the first 22 games – was derailed by a core muscle injury that later required surgery. Hopes for a similarly strong start to Year 3 have already hit a speed bump: second tear of the labrum in his left shoulderexpected to sideline him through at least the first few weeks of the season.
A (small) silver lining to Sharpe’s delayed re-entry: It clears the way for Henderson, who struggled mightily after going off the board third overall in the 2023 NBA Draft, to try to cement himself as a bona fide building block.
Doing so will require dramatic shooting after a rocky freshman campaign that saw Henderson shoot an abysmal 47.3% at the rim (last among 237 players make at least 100 close attempts) and only 35% on all attempts outside the restricted area. If you can’t finish at the cup or knock down enough jumpers to make opponents respect you on the perimeter, you’re going to have an awfully hard time being a consistently positive offensive force, no matter how explosive you are off the dribble.
Without significant steps as a finisher or pick-and-roll facilitator, it’s hard to see Henderson developing into a true foundational piece of Portland’s future puzzle. If he can make a big jump in one or both aspects, however, then he becomes a much more interesting prospect – one that, along with Clingan, Sharpe and whoever general manager Joe Cronin chooses with what will overwhelmingly likely be an early pick in the. 2025 NBA Draft, could one day form the core of the next legitimate Blazers team. Right now, though, that day still seems a long, long way away.
Best case scenario
Ayton, Grant, Avdija and Simons spend the first half of the season providing some semblance of a stable infrastructure in which to evaluate Sharpe, Henderson, Clingan and the rest of the young pieces of Portland. Some of them show real signs of growth and development – the kind of sparks and flickers that increase your confidence these guys really can to become the foundation of what follows. And then, with that renewed belief in hand, Cronin is able to bring out several of the veterans — most notably one of either Ayton or Robert Williams III — to reduce Portland’s positional redundancy, clearing the runway for Clingan and the guards to experience their growing pains while paving the way for another top-of-the-lottery pick to augment and solidify the young core.
If everything falls apart
Scoot still can’t shoot, Sharpe and Simons continue to struggle to contribute without the ball in their hands, neither of them can defend – and, worse, neither of them can stay healthy and available at the same time, hampering Cronin and head coach Chauncey. Billups of getting an honest gauge of which combinations might have promise. The market for Portland’s highest paid vets is proving cold enough that Grant and Ayton are sticking around, helping the Blazers win more games than they’d honestly prefer before the Cooper Flagg project. The season ends not with a bang, but with a Pacific Northwest drizzle of a whimper: out of the game-in, out of the top of the draft, in the hard middle of the league’s lower class, with no signs of a clear path back. to the top
A fancy spin
Portland is one of the least interesting teams in fantasy basketball. I was happy to draft Simons because his ADP is affordable in the seventh round, although you might be able to grab him in the eighth. When it comes to drafting Ayton, I prefer to wait a round or two to grab a big man that won’t cost a fifth-round pick.
Grant will likely find his way to another team at some point, but until then, he’s only useful for points and 3s — an easy fade even at his ADP. Avdija is a player that I expect to exceed his ADP. He is a sleeper going in the 11th round with a versatile skill set for fantasy. Henderson is better for scoring connections, but if you can stomach his ineffectiveness and turnovers, he could make a decent source of points and help in the back end of drafts. — Dan Tito
schedule 2024-25
Hope springs eternal in the preseason — which, in this case, means the Blazers will be both terrible on their own merits. and able to unload their helpful veterans with enough time to really pick up the L on the back half of the schedule. I will take the below; it wouldn’t surprise me if this year’s model gave the 1971-72 crew a run for its money as the worst team in franchise history.
More season previews
East: Atlanta Hawks • Boston Celtics • Brooklyn Nets • Charlotte Hornets • Chicago Bulls • Cleveland Cavaliers • Detroit Pistons • Indiana Pacers • Miami Heat • Milwaukee Bucks • New York Knicks • Orlando Magic • Philadelphia 76ers • Toronto Raptors • Washington Wizards
West: Dallas Mavericks • Denver Nuggets • Golden State Warriors • Houston Rockets • Los Angeles Clippers • Los Angeles Lakers • Memphis Grizzlies • Minnesota Timberwolves • New Orleans Pelicans • Oklahoma City Thunder • Phoenix Suns • Portland Trail Blazers • Sacramento Kings • San Antonio Spurs • Utah Jazz
