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As the Portland Trail Blazers reunited with Damian Lillard, other young up-and-coming players are hoping to improve heading into next season. While fans are excited to see such players as Trail Blazers rookie Yang Hansen develop, another one who is ready to break out is Shaedon Sharpe, a player who got compared to Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum.
The comparison was made by Zach Lowe on Monday's episode of his self-titled show, where the topic was around Portland after the move to get back Lillard. He would focus on Sharpe and say that when looking at his film, part of his game reminds him of Tatum, one of the best players in the entire NBA.
“I watched a lot of film of him, and you see it. Again, glimpses are not real until they become more than glimpses,” Lowe said. “Glimpses are just glimpses. They don't really matter until they become a more regular part of the game. But if you watch 300 Shaedon Sharpe drives or something like that, you will see 20 glimpses where he kind of looks like Jayson Tatum.”
Last season, Sharpe had his best season yet in the NBA, averaging 18.5 points (second on the team after Anfernee Simons), 4.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 31.1 percent from deep.
Zach Lowe on comparison involving Blazers' Shaedon Sharpe
With the Blazers looking to still add in 2025's NBA free agency, Sharpe could once again improve with a bulk of opportunity with Simons being traded to the Celtics. It remains to be seen, but Lowe would make sure to say that he doesn't want to make a direct one-to-one comparison since he predicts that Sharpe won't be a first-team All-NBA player.
“And I don't mean to [compare] them as players because Jason Tatum's a first team All-NBA player and Shaedon Sharpe is very far from that and will probably never be a first team All-NBA player,” Lowe said. “I mean, certainly the odds are against anybody being that. But just in terms of the size, the like sort of start and stop in the mid-range until I get where I want to go and an occasional shoulder to get me one step closer.”
At any rate, Portland looks to improve after finishing 36-46, which put them 12th in the Western Conference.
