The Portland Trail Blazers will embark on their 2026-27 regular season campaign this week. Rejoice, Blazers fans! The new year is about to begin!
Between now and the time the Blazers face the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night, we’re going to preview the team for you, collecting what we’ve learned throughout the summer and in preseason into digestible documents. If you checked out last April and/or need an introduction to the new-look Blazers, this is the place for you!
Portland didn’t have any picks
in the 2026 NBA Draft, but that hasn’t stopped them from making major changes to the roster during the summer. Today’s season preview post will be personnel-based. Who is new to the team, who has evolved, and what changes are likely to have the most impact for or against the team?
Damian Lillard
As just about every Blazers fans this side of the moon knows, Damian Lillard is back in uniform and ready to play for the Trail Blazers once more. After a year of rehabbing a torn Achilles tendon, Lillard is ready to reset the clock to Dame Time, proving he still has something to give in this league.
Early results look good for Lillard. He started throughout the preseason, shooting (and often hitting) deep threes, occasionally getting to the rim as well. His offense looks polished. He may not have the legs or opportunity to score 30 anymore, but he still demands defensive attention for his omnipresent scoring threat.
The best thing about Dame’s preseason, though, was the seamless way he moved on- and off-ball when playing alongside fellow starter Deni Avdija. One of the big questions going into the season is whether the sudden influx of ball-dominant guards will inhibit Avdija from controlling the action as he did in last year’s NBA All-Star campaign. Deni may not initiate the offense as much, but it looks as if he’s going to be able to take the ball whenever he wants to when Lillard is alongside him. That’s a huge sigh of relief. Who takes the clutch-time attempts still remains to be sorted out, but so far it looks like the Dame-and-Deni duo have a great chance at chemistry.
It’s also worth noting that, of the non-defensive players on the roster, Lillard is the most solid in fulfilling his duties on the other end of the court. He’s no Toumani Camara, but he didn’t look like a sieve in preseason. Portland is heavy on defense in the frontcourt. If Lillard can hold his own just a little bit, the Blazers will have a chance to rank among the league’s better defenses.
Ja Morant
Portland’s other big addition of the offseason was a curveball almost nobody saw coming. In late June, the Blazers sent forward Jerami Grant to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for former All-Star point guard Ja Morant. Once the heart of the Memphis organization, Morant had fallen on hard times recently. Injuries and off-court controversies conspired to keep him under the radar, a difficult development for a laser-filled disco ball of a player like Morant.
One of the big questions facing the Blazers was where Morant would play. Like Lillard (and seemingly half the rest of the roster, Morant is a point guard. Starting him alongside Dame would create defensive woes and ball struggles enough to fill a major miniseries. (On this very special episode of, “The Opponent Scored 120 Again…”) But bringing Morant off the bench would be a near-unprecedented move. He’s started 325 of the 327 games in his seven-year NBA career.
New Head Coach Micah Nori experimented with a few lineup combinations during preseason, but Morant as Chief of Second Unit Scoring seemed to work best. For one thing, Ja is as glittery-transcendent as ever. His moves to the bucket are quick, his finishes pure magic. This is prime-grade stuff the Blazers haven’t seen since the days of Brandon Roy. But that’s predicated on the ball being in Morant’s hands. He’s far more of an “either-or” player alongside Lillard and Avdija. Morant is also wasted off-ball. He looks terminally ordinary without the rock, a huge waste.
The best guess early is that Ja will come off the bench to provide one of the most potent scoring threats in the league and still average between 16-20 per game. That’s going to be plenty fun for Portland fans to watch.
Scoot Henderson
If you’re wondering why we’re mentioning three point guard in a row in the “new and critical” section of our season preview, well…welcome to the 2026-27 Trail Blazers. They have enough point guards to field a five-man lineup of them. They’re all good, too.
Scoot Henderson pencils in as the odd man out in the PG shuffle. He’s not an established star like Lillard and Morant. He doesn’t have the résumé, set-up experience, or defensive chops of Jrue Holiday. Theoretically, Scoot should be sitting under the learning tree, trying to absorb from his veteran teammates as his own career growth stalls yet again.
In practice, it hasn’t worked out that way so far. Henderson has shown good aptitude playing as the second guard beside the established stars. He has evidenced zero need to control the ball. His three-point shot has been on and off, but when it’s been on, it’s a major weapon. He shoots it quickly and confidently now, a far cry from the misery of his early seasons. When he does take the ball, he’s learned to couple decisive movement with his linebacker body, creating a dynamic force that defenses are hard-pressed to stop. They don’t happen often, but Henderson drives are like thunder. Scoot also plays a devil-may-care, full-speed-ahead brand of defense that sees him charging at ballhandlers nearly full-court. It’s not entirely efficient, but it’s distruptive.
This is as close to a full-fledge Scoot Henderson as we’ve seen. He’s not just fitting in the cracks between his more famous teammates, he’s filling them.
Deni Avdija
Deni Avdija looks as recovered from last season’s back injury and fatigue as possible. He’s touching the ball and creating less than he did when he was the main (credible) scorer. His moves still look lithe. He’s going to be OK, it seems like. That’s great news for Portland.
Defense and three-point shooting are concerns for Avdija. He’s always been a good defender, but shouldering the offensive burden last year took the sharp edge off of his work at the other end. The Blazers will hope that making the offensive load lighter will provide Deni energy for defending instead of disincentive to invest. Also, playing away from the ball more, Avdija will feel pressure to improve upon his 31.8% three-point accuracy last season. The shots should be wider open. Can he make them?
Toumani Camara
Toumani Camara looks as active as ever on defense. He’s still trying to hound dribblers and take charges. Durability may be one issue. The Blazers are thin at forward this year. Three-point shooting will be even more critical for Camara than it is for Avdija. Toumani is getting open attempts, particularly in the corner. Those shots are prized in the NBA because they’re the shortest—and in some ways, the easiest—three-pointers in existence. Camara is releasing as quickly and confidently as Henderson is. The results will speak for themselves over the course of the season. Look for that shot to become incredibly important to Toumani and the team.
Robert Williams III
The Blazers are trying to play a more mobile, agile, and diverse brand of defense this year. Gone (for now) are the days of sending the center down into the lane to play rim goalie from a standstill position. The range and speed of coverage expected favors Robert Williams III, who looked pretty good in preseason. Health is always a concern, but if he can stay in uniform, Williams is likely to become a favorite of Coach Nori.
The Rest of the Roster
Here are some brief notes on the rest of the roster:
- Donovan Clingan looks like a real NBA player in all ways now: physique, composure, and role. He’s going to provide his trademark defense. He’s put in some impressive rebounding too. He’ll be a critically important part of the lineup. He’s just not mentioned above because it’s even more of the same good stuff instead of a radical change.
- Jrue Holiday will be interesting. You wouldn’t be ashamed to plug him into any spot available. He’s going to provide passing, offensive set-up, and smart shooting. It appears as if the Blazers are giving all the other guards a chance to step ahead of Holiday if they can, using Jrue like a baseline safety net. If all three of the other backcourt members excel, look for Holiday to be traded potentially. Chances are that won’t happen and you’ll see Coach Nori press the Jrue Button repeatedly.
- Shaedon Sharpe is injured, suffering a meniscus tear in an offseason workout. He’s already had repair surgery. He’ll be reevaluated in February.
- Nobody has clearly won the Yang Hansen-Micah Potter-Branden Carlson battle for reserve center and potential power forward minutes. Chances are the Blazers are going to miss Jerami Grant before the year is over.
- Poor Vit Krejci. He’s not a bad player, but the things he does well—ball-handling, surprisingly decent facilitation—are covered six times over by other players. He’s not a great defender. The only facet of the game that could keep him on the floor is three-point shooting. But he needs to be Dale Ellis. He’s looked more like Dale Davis. Despite his height and the opening at shooting guard left by Sharpe’s injury (and the opening at small forward left by a near-complete lack of forwards on the roster), Krejci doesn’t seem likely to crack the rotation.
Tomorrow we’re going to take a look at Portland’s new scheme and style. Stay tuned!
