The Portland Trail Blazers open up the 2026-27 campaign at home tonight against the Phoenix Suns. The buzz in Portland is the return of Damian Lillard to the court and the arrival of Ja Morant. Meanwhile, the Suns big move in trading for 28-year-old Miles Bridges has been met with criticism. Many media outlets have predicted the Suns to finish below the Blazers this season, although usually just by a place or two. With questions about second-year coach Jordan Ott and lots of dead cap space hampering
their ability to make mid-season adjustments, the Suns have their work cut out for them if they want to make some noise in the Western Conference this season. Phoenix finished seventh in the standings last season, just one spot above the Blazers. The two teams met in the first game of the play-in tournament; Portland won the matchup. The Suns eventually made it to the playoffs by defeating the Golden State Warriors in their second play-in game. Both Phoenix and Portland were eliminated in their respective first-round series.
What You Need To Know
Portland Trail Blazers (0-0) vs Phoenix Suns (0-0) – Wed. Oct. 21 – 7:00 pm Pacific
How to watch via antenna or cable: See your options for the Rip City Television Network.
How to watch via streaming: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass everywhere else
How to listen: Trail Blazers Audio Network
Trail Blazers Injuries: Brandon Carlson, Shaedon Sharpe, Chris Youngblood (out), Deni Avdija, Micah Potter (questionable)
Suns Injuries: Mark Williams (out), Luke Kennard (questionable)
What To Watch For
Deni Avdija: It’s never ideal when one of your stars shows up on the injury report, especially at the beginning of the season. On paper at least, the Blazers are in a better position this season to make up for a possible absence, but you still want your big guns healthy and available. Avdija is listed as questionable due to right ankle soreness, with no indication of how or when he started dealing with the problem. There’s certainly a reasonable chance he does suit up, but the Blazers might want to be conservative with 82 regular season games to go.
Defending the Three Ball: Last season the Suns shot the fifth most three-point attempts at 40.8 per game, registering the fifth most three-point makes at 14.8 per game. Their three-point percentage was a bit above average at 36.1%. You don’t want to draw too many conclusions from the preseason, but the Blazers were close to average in terms of opponents’ three-point attempts and makes. With a few players on the perimeter not exactly known for their defense, it will be interesting to see if Portland can do a passable job of defending the arc.
Damian Lillard: It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Seeing Damian Lillard on the home court wearing a Blazers jersey in a game that matters is going to be fantastic no matter what the result. He’s made it clear he’s not back just to pick up an easy check. In the preseason he’s checked all of the important boxes, looking smooth, confident, with that swagger that we know and love. He’s back where he belongs, and we all get to witness it. It’s too early to say what kind of an impact he’s going to have on this team, but whatever you do, never bet against Dame.
What Others Are Saying
Ben Leibowitz of Valley of the Suns isn’t impressed with Phoenix’s depth at point guard, and he concludes that current Blazer Ja Morant could have helped them more than their acquisition of power forward Miles Bridges.
While the Suns undoubtedly needed to shore up the frontcourt and address their defensive rebounding woes from a season ago, the Bridges trade left a lot to be desired. Unlike Morant, Bridges has never made an All-Star team in his career. Phoenix also gave up two solid role players—Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale—in the trade, along with an unprotected first-round draft pick, to get him.
By contrast, Portland only had to give up Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to take Morant off Memphis’ hands. The Trail Blazers even got cash considerations in the deal.
Here’s a much more optimistic view of the Suns’ upcoming season from Bruce Veliz of Bright Side of the Sun.
When you add it all up, the Suns look like a pretty impactful team on both ends and across the roster. The roster has no position needs and isn’t overstocked in any one position as they head into the season with 14 guys under contract. That’s something I enjoy and feel confident about going into this year; they’re deep, and I saw that last night. From watching the final preseason game against the Utah Jazz, you could see this team’s cohesion on the floor.
Too much LeBron for your liking? The Suns’ Dillon Brooks may have the answer.
Talk Tonight!
For those who aren’t familiar, we open a game day thread each game night for you to discuss the action with your friends and neighbors. You can find that here on site or on the new SBNation app. It all leads to the same conversation, so join in whatever way seems most comfortable to you!
Also stay tuned after the game for instant reaction, in-depth analysis, and our report from media row at the Moda Center!
