Portland Trail Blazers Articles - Page 46

The Portland Trail Blazers did not luck out in the lottery after their rebuilding season in 2021-22. Their 27-55 record was the sixth-worst in the NBA. They left the draft lottery with the seventh overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. While most of the focus falls on this first-round selection, the Trail Blazers also […]

New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum made his first appearance on ESPN’s First Take recently and he had quite a few things to say. One of his more contentious statements centered around players sitting out games when healthy. The 30-year-old veteran got brutally honest in his message as he described how this processed work during his […]

One of the NBA’s biggest open secrets is the Portland Trail Blazers want another star to pair with Damian Lillard. And according to sources, Pacific Northwest native Zach LaVine isn’t the only big fish general manager Joe Cronin could try to lure to Portland before next season. The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor reported on Monday that […]

Pump the brakes on the sale of the Portland Trail Blazers. Less than three hours after reports surfaced about a $2 billion offer to buy the team from Nike founder Phil Knight and Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Alan Smolinisky, the Blazers released a statement to reporters indicating the franchise is not for sale. Blazers statement: […]

Nike founder Phil Knight and Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Alan Smolinisky have made an offer over $2 billion to purchase the Portland Trail Blazers, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Nike founder Phil Knight and Dodgers co-owner Alan Smolinisky have made a $2 billion-plus written offer to purchase the Portland Trail Blazers, sources tell ESPN. Discussions […]

The Portland Trail Blazers don’t have the assets to trade for another superstar, and creating the cap space needed to sign a top-tier free agent outright—like rumored target Zach LaVine, for instance—would force general manager Joe Cronin to decimate the roster’s existing core. Under immense pressure to justify Damian Lillard’s re-commitment to Rip City and […]

The Portland Trail Blazers are looking to retool around Damian Lillard this offseason and will try to make a big splash to give him at least one new high-level teammate. The Blazers are armed with the No. 7 pick and a $20.9 million trade exception, though they could also look to create cap space for […]

A lot of people have been giving Darvin Ham his flowers after the 48-year-old was announced as the new head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. Lining up to sing Ham’s praises is Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. Billups was teammates with Ham with the Detroit Pistons where they won a title in […]

Despite being a cornerstone of the Phoenix Suns since being drafted in 2018, Deandre Ayton and the team both failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension last offseason. The star big man demanded a max salary of five-year, $170 million but the Suns didn’t budge as they opted to pay the other players […]

The Portland Trail Blazers have little to show for one of the most shameless tanking efforts in NBA history. Joe Cronin and the front office didn’t prematurely shut down Portland’s best players with minor injuries and empower multiple G-League call-ups en route to a laughable 2-21 record after the All-Star break just to get the […]

In the draft lottery, the team with the worst record may feel snubbed if they receive the third pick rather than the top selection. Some years, just two spots can make the difference between an All-NBA potential talent and a solid contributing role player. However, this year isn’t like most years. There is a surplus […]

The Portland Trail Blazers’ historic post-All-Star tanking efforts didn’t pay off the way Joe Cronin and company imagined. All Portland has to show for its 2-21 finish to the regular season is the seventh selection in the draft come June 23rd, a stark disappointment for a team that entered lottery night with the sixth-best odds […]

The Chicago Bulls had a solid 2021-2022 season, but had a disappointing finish. After being one of the hottest teams for much of the year, they struggled down the stretch and were easily handled by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs. With the offseason underway, minds have shifted to guard Zach […]

Earlier this week, the NBA Draft Lottery was held and there were quite a few surprises. The Orlando Magic won the Draft lottery. The Oklahoma City Thunder jumped up from the number four slot to snatch the second overall pick. Meanwhile, the Houston Rockets, who had the worst record in the NBA last season, dropped […]

The Portland Trail Blazers entered lottery night already down one high-value first-round pick they initially expected to have. Worse, by the time the proceedings were over, Portland also emerged on the wrong side of ping-pong ball luck. The Blazers “won” the No. 7 overall pick on Tuesday night, falling a slot in the 2022 NBA […]

The Charlotte Hornets are one of a couple of teams from around the league that are still looking for a new head coach. According to reports, the organization has now turned its attention to Damian Lillard’s former coach for the Portland Trail Blazers. According to NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic, Terry Stotts is […]

The Portland Trail Blazers were dealt a tough blow during the 2022 NBA Draft lottery and nobody was more bummed about it than Damian Lillard. Not only did the Blazers fail to move up to the top four spots, they also fell even lower than their projected sixth pick. Lillard was Portland’s representative at the […]

Damian Lillard has never been shy to profess admiration for his NBA peers. The Portland Trail Blazers superstar has frequently praised the likes of LeBron James, Steph Curry and Draymond Green throughout his career, and just singled out Giannis Antetokounmpo as the player he’d most like to team up with in the postseason. Few players in […]

The ugly reality is that the Portland Trail Blazers are unlikely to compete for a title next season almost no matter what happens this summer. General manager Joe Cronin and the front office are expected to be very aggressive in seeking roster upgrades before 2022-23, but Portland lacks both the team-building assets and incumbent talent […]

The Portland Trail Blazers and Damian Lillard have a bit of complicated history together. With Dame Time in tow, the team enjoyed great regular season success. However, despite the obvious skills of these teams, they were never quite able to make it over the hump. This failure to launch into championship greatness is one of […]

Former Los Angeles Lakers stud Robert Horry has hit more than a few clutch shots during his heyday. After all, you don’t get the nickname “Big Shot Bob” for nothing. As such, the seven-time NBA champion can be considered an authority when it comes to naming the best clutch shooter in the league. His top […]

The Portland Trail Blazers won’t have the luxury of being selective this summer. If a star-level player wants to continue his career in Portland, expect the front office try to like hell to make it happen. Damian Lillard isn’t getting any younger, they already lost one crucial team-building asset when the New Orleans Pelicans made […]

Are the Utah Jazz in for a summer of trades, trades and more trades? The franchise doesn’t seem to have a big interest in dismantling the Donovan Mitchell-Rudy Gobert duo right now. However, the noise to make some big changes to the roster has reached a fever pitch. According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, […]

The Portland Trail Blazers made a potential franchise-changing move on Tuesday that should please Damian Lillard. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Portland promoted interim GM Joe Cronin to GM: ESPN Sources: The Portland Trail Blazers are promoting Joe Cronin to general manager with a four-year contract. Cronin, interim GM since December, takes over franchise at […]

League decision-makers believe the Portland Trail Blazers could emerge as a legitimate suitor for Chicago Bulls star Zach LaVine in free agency, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. LaVine raised eyebrows across the league after the Bulls were eliminated from the playoffs in late April, making it clear that widespread assumptions he’d simply re-sign with Chicago […]

Miles Bridges is going to be one of the hottest free agents in the offseason, and the Charlotte Hornets will likely do everything in their power to re-sign the 6-foot-6 forward to an extension. Bridges will not be short of suitors, though, with Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers now being linked to the […]

The Los Angeles Lakers are still doing an extensive search for their next head coach, with a number of different names on their radar including Quin Snyder, Doc Rivers, Mark Jackson, and others. Well, the Lakers are also eyeing the former HC of Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers. The organization just interviewed Terry […]

The Utah Jazz once again failed to meet their postseason aspirations. Despite not having Luka Doncic for the first three games of the series, the Dallas Mavericks were still able to boot out the Jazz in a convincing fashion. The Jazz have made the NBA Playoffs for the past six seasons but have failed to […]

The Golden State Warriors have a gem on their hands in Jordan Poole. The third-year guard out of Michigan is playing out of his mind in the postseason, which has garnered the respect of at least one All-NBA player. Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard has been spectating the games from the comfort of […]

The Memphis Grizzlies-Minnesota Timberwolves series was one of the most compelling of the first round. But in a lot of ways, the series flashed a glimpse of the newer generation, with the stars leading the way for both teams still in the early stages of their respective careers. Not everything about it rated particularly well […]

It’s back to the drawing board for the Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert Utah Jazz. Losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the NBA playoffs when Luka Doncic only played half of the series is a new low. Change is needed, and it should start with the man in the middle. You don’t […]

Jusuf Nurkic, the Portland Trail Blazers and a reporter are being sued by the Indiana Pacers fan who had his phone thrown by the Bosnian Beast in a heated courtside incident following Portland’s loss to Indiana on March 20th. Jusuf Nurkic was NOT happy with what this fan said/did, got in his face, and tossed […]

The Portland Trail Blazers made a huge blockbuster trade back in February, sending CJ McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for mostly draft compensation. But, Damian Lillard and the Blazers were really hoping they would land NOLA’s first-round pick for the 2022 draft or in other words, between the 5 and 14 spots […]

Damian Lillard was an avid spectator of Saturday night’s matchup between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Portland Trail Blazers superstar liked what he saw from the Grizzlies and it led him to a blunt assessment of this squad. Clearly, Lillard loves how the Grizzlies went through the process of building their team […]

Gravity of the New Orleans Pelicans advancing past the play-in tournament extends far beyond The Big Easy. Thousands of miles away, reverberations of their stunning rise from 1-12 bottom-feeder to thorny playoff upstart—with the chance to take a 2-1 first-round lead on basketball’s best team—will be felt throughout what was supposed to be a transformative […]

With CJ McCollum no longer a part of the Portland Trail Blazers, Damian Lillard is going to need a new star to help him carry the franchise. Lillard, who has been some sort of a forgotten man this season because he missed a bunch of games due to injury, reportedly shares a mutual interest with […]

C.J. McCollum drained a tough mid-range jumper in crunch time, giving his team a two-possession lead. Robert Covington changed the game when deployed as a full-time small-ball five. Norman Powell came alive after intermission. Larry Nance Jr. forcefully answered the bell with the season on the line, providing a palpable two-way impact off the bench. […]

Portland Trail Blazers are used to hearing all the Damian Lillard trade rumors by now. The man himself has been as transparent as can be about where his head is at all times when it comes to his future. In a recent interview with CNBC’s Jabari Young, the Blazers star affirmed his desire, once again, […]

One of the most disappointing seasons in Portland Trail Blazers history didn’t change much for Damian Lillard. Poised to return in 2022-23 healthier than he’s been in years after going under the knife to address longstanding pain in his midsection, Lillard remains fully committed to the team he threatened to leave on multiple occasions last […]