Tuesday March 31st, 2026, marked the beginning of Tom Dundon’s reign as the governor of the Portland Trail Blazers. Attending Portland’s 114-104 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, Dundon gave an interview to Jason Quick of The Athletic. Quick, a long-time Portland media member, queried the new owner on his first day, his plans for employees and staff, and keeping the Trail Blazers in Portland.
One of the most intriguing responses from Dundon came when Quick asked him about his opening message
to the locker room. Dundon provided electricity, focusing on his own motivational role as owner:
It was very short, and it was just, one, I appreciate what they do. They’re the product. They made it to the NBA, so it’s very impressive. But right now, where we are isn’t where I think we can be. And it’s more about maybe increasing the standards, increasing the commitment to excellence, increasing the intensity — things that I think everybody says, things everybody wants to do. Now, doing it and expecting to do it and every day getting better … that is not a debate with me. … It is going to happen. It always happens when I show up. And we’re gonna do it. I think they want it, too.
This spirit continued through questions about Dundon’s approach to winning and losing, also to employees of the organization and whether they should be worried about their jobs:
I mean, everybody who’s not thinking like that every day — like, regardless if there’s new ownership, if you don’t wake up fighting for your job, fighting for your spot, then that mindset is probably not very good anyway. So if it takes this for people to think like that, then that’s fine.
When asked specifically, Dundon said he needed to gather more data and observe the approaches of Blazers General Manager Joe Cronin and Head Coach Tiago Splitter before making a decision on their continued tenures with the franchise.
The interview then moved to the broader subjects of the Blazers remaining in Portland and playing in the aging Moda Center. When asked about his insistence on a publicly-funded arena renovation, Dundon indicated to Quick that he felt a 20-year commitment to remain in town was enough contribution from the team’s side to justify the project. But when the topic came to the Blazers moving out of town, Quick quotes Dundon saying:
We haven’t spent any time on that. (Team president) Dewayne (Hankins) and the team have spent all their time trying to figure out how to renovate Moda Center. Anything that people write or say, it’s just made up, because nobody has spent any time on that. I fully expect to get everything we’re working on done. That’s all we can really do is work on that.
The interview is a must-read, probably the fullest and least-editorialized depiction of Portland’s new owner in his first week.
