The NBA In-Season Tournament gets underway on Friday; here's everything you need to know about the Portland Trail Blazers and the tournament.

All 30 teams have been randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference based on won-loss records from the 2022-23 regular season. Each team will play four designated Group Play games on “Tournament Nights” – one game against each opponent in its group, with two games at home and two on the road.

Eight teams will advance to the Knockout Rounds: the team with the best standing in Group Play games in each of the six groups and two “wild cards” (the team from each conference with the best record in Group Play games that finished second in its group).  The Knockout Rounds will be single-elimination games in the Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Championship.  The qualifying teams will compete for a prize pool and the new In-Season Tournament trophy, the NBA Cup.

Trail Blazers In-Season Tournament schedule

The Blazers start their Group A play with a home game against the Memphis Grizzlies; Friday Nov. 3 at 7pm. After that, the team is on the road against the Utah Jazz on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 6pm. Game three sees the Blazers hosting the Lakers on Friday Nov 17 at 7pm. For the final game of the knockout stage, the Blazers travel to the desert to face the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 6pm

But what's an in-season tournament without a few bold predictions? Read on for three bold Blazers In-Season Tournament predictions:

The Blazers don't win their group, but still advance

The eight teams that advance to the next stage are the six winners of the group-stage plus two wild-card teams; the two teams with the best record that did not win their group. The Trail Blazers will fall in that second category, winning multiple games but not topping the likes of the Phoenix Suns record-wise. The team has been slow out of the gate but has the athleticism to hang with any team on any given night. The Blazers most likely won't be reaching the postseason, so the tournament is their one chance to do something special this season. Expect the young team to play hard.

Shaedon Sharpe sizzles

Despite not having Anfernee Simons available for the In-Season Tournament due to a torn thumb ligament, the Trail Blazers have a significant amount of young talent. On the top of that heap is young guard Shaedon Sharpe. Sharpe is having a breakout year early in the 2023-24 season, averaging 18 points and five rebounds so far in his age-20 season. With Simons not available, Sharpe has been more of a focal point on offense. Expect this trend to continue for the Blazers in the In-Season Tournament, with Sharpe racking up multiple highlights, thanks to his jaw-dropping athleticism.

Scoot Henderson figures it out

Blazers rookie Scoot Henderson has had a rough start to his career but has looked better every game. At this point, his only major issues are turnovers and outside shooting. He continues to foul at a high rate, but that's not uncommon for rookie point guards forced to defend on the perimeter. At the rate he's improved from game to game, look for Scoot to breakout during the tournament, especially in the Blazers' home-and-home against the struggling Memphis Grizzlies. While Jaren Jackson Jr. is a menacing inside presence, Steven Adams' absence will allow Scoot enough space to get in the key and make things happen, a critical part of his game.