As we move through our player recaps for the Portland Trail Blazers’ 2025-26 NBA season, next up is reserve wing Matisse Thybulle. When Thybulle hit restricted free agency three seasons ago, the Dallas Mavericks offered him a Mid-Level Exception contract to the tune of 3 years and $33.5 million. He signed the offer sheet, which put the Blazers on a 72-hour clock. They could decide to match the offer or let him head to the Lone Star state. The Blazers were looking to build a defensive identity with
high-character players during their rebuild, so they quickly matched Dallas’s offer.
Unfortunately, the entire duration of Thybulle’s last three seasons in Portland has been turbulent. He only played 30 games this season due to thumb surgery and knee tendonopathy. When he did play, he made his presence known.
Season Stats
Here’s a look at Thybulle’s basic stat block
OTHER STATS
Availability is among the best abilities, and Thybulle has only been able to suit up for 45 regular-season games out of 164 over the past two seasons. That’s 27.4%. This is going to make determining his worth and value on his next contract somewhat murky. A lot of his absence was due to an injury known as “jumper’s knee”, a condition that causes pain, inflammation, and reduced mobility in the patellar tendon. Since this has plagued him for two consecutive seasons, he’s likely looking at a tough free agency market this summer.
The magic of Matisse, however, is when he does take the floor he makes an incredible defensive impact. He had a team leading +10.8 net rating, but he only played in 12% of the total minutes this season due to his missed time. The “on” portion of his on/off rating is what stands out. When Tisse took the court (480 minutes over 30 games), Portland’s opponents scored 103.5 points per 100 possessions, versus 116.3 points per 100 possessions in the 88% of the time he wasn’t playing. He’s truly one of the game’s best individual defensive disruptors.
Change Year-Over-Year
With the massive amount of time he’s missed, his stats are all small sample sizes.
- He led the Blazers this season in three-point shooting percentage at 39.8% (37-93). He shot 43.8% the year before, but that was on almost half the attempts (21-48). As a career 35% shooter from downtown, he would likely regress more to the mean with more attempts. Although he has become a better three-point shooter since joining the Blazers four years ago.
- He led the NBA in Steals Percentage with 47.6%, just a tick off from his 47.8% last season. This is the percentage of steals a player gets for his team when he’s on the floor. I’m feeling kinda Haberstat-y here, because this is filtered for players who played in 30 games or more this season (15 games or more last season). But when Matisse plays, he’s the King of Steals in the NBA. His Per-36 Minutes steals rate was an absurd 4.5 (career high), versus 3.8 steals a year ago.
- Thybulle’s defensive rating was 99.8, ranked third in the NBA for players who played 30 games or more. That’s up from 105.1 from a year ago, and again, a small sample size of 15 games in 2024-25.
- Tisse also finished third in the league in steals average with 2.0, just off from his 2.2 average the year prior. That placed him second in the NBA.
Analysis
Thybulle is a straightforward player. He’s not a guy you’d ever try to run offense through. His scoring is going to come from open looks behind the arc or from opportunistic defense turning into offense in transition. His sweet spot for playing time is around the 16 minute average he carried this season. He’s going to get you 5-7 points virtually every time he plays, but because of his limitations, it’s vital to have other big time offensive talents on the floor with him.
You’re not playing Thybulle for his offense though. His elite mind and execution for defensive disruption gets him on the floor. He’s a basketball ninja, playing the passing lanes as if he’s throwing smoke bombs all over the place to confuse his opponents. He led the NBA in deflections Per-36 Minutes with 8.8. Many of his steals and deflections come when it looks like he’s either out of or behind a play. With cat-like reflexes and peripheral vision that would make John Wick blush, Thybulle’s highlight reel for steals is uncanny. It’s almost a shame that “Mathief” hasn’t stuck as a nickname.
In the playoffs Matisse didn’t see much playing time, as Tiago Splitter rode his main horses. His stats over those 5 games are as forgettable as just about everyone else’s.
Moving forward, there’s a universe where it would be interesting to see Thybulle play extended minutes next to Deni Avdija and Damian Lillard, if his body will let him.
The Future
Thybulle enters the summer free to sign anywhere. It remains to be seen if the Blazers are interested in re-signing him. On one hand, you have a player who’s struggled to stay on the court due to injuries and has major offensive limitations. On the other, you’ve got one of the greatest defensive specialists in the entire NBA.
This summer’s free agent class isn’t considered deep. Playoff teams in need of a defensive boost could come calling Thybulle’s way. It’s difficult to envision Matisse getting another standard Mid-Level Exception. Those now start at $15.1 million and generally run three or four years. Given his recent run of bad health, he could be an ideal candidate for the Bi-Annual Exception. That cap exception is available to over the cap teams who are under the first tax apron. It can be one or two years in length, used once every two seasons. The 2026-27 expected value for this exception is around $5.5 million. The BAE might be what the Blazers use to re-sign Thybulle this summer if they want to bring him back. The big question: will he want to take a 50% reduction in his current salary to stay in Rip City?
What are your thoughts? Should the Blazers re-sign Matisse Thybulle, and at what price?
