Plenty of critiques are coming at the Portland Trail Blazers following their 42-40 regular season and first-round exit against the San Antonio Spurs in the 2026 NBA Playoffs. Most analysts see Portland’s roster as promising, with a few deep flaws. 98% of those have to do with scoring. The Blazers can defend when they want to, but their offense goes south faster than December geese.
Three-point shooting is usually tabbed as Portland’s biggest void. Aptly so. The Blazers finished 28th in the league
with a 34.3% success rate from distance this season. But point production can be a problem too.
Portland’s offense generated 115.5 points per game, 17th in the NBA. They scored 103 or below 21 times, a full quarter of their outings. Their record in those games was 3-18. They never topped 108 in their five games versus San Antonio in the playoffs, three times finishing with point totals in the 90’s. All of those were losses.
Portland’s also in an interesting position. They have the ability to make trades with a wide variety of draft picks and a couple of larger contracts for salary ballast, but they’re not a particularly deep team. Half of their roster would have negligible value on the trade market. The other half, the Blazers need still. They can certainly swing a big move if one comes available, but they’ll need to backfill into any positions they vacate. Smaller moves may become critical, either instead of deals or in the wake of them.
The usual solution to this is signing veteran players to fill corners. But Portland isn’t really at that stage either. Players they could get on a Mid-Level Exception or Veteran’s Minimum probably wouldn’t help enough. The team just isn’t good enough yet for the proverbial “final piece” to take effect.
A potential avenue remains open, however. There’s always the inexpensive, wildcard swing on a player with talent who, for whatever reason, hasn’t found their place in the league yet.
If we’re talking offense (and talking wildcards) one place the Blazers might look is shooting guard Cam Thomas. Drafted 27th overall in the 2021 NBA Draft, Thomas spent four and a half seasons with the Brooklyn Nets. He got waived last February, then picked up by the Milwaukee Bucks. They also waived him near the end of the season, leaving him an unrestricted free agent.
Thomas isn’t a deadeye shooter. His career average beyond the arc is 34.0%. His peak season was 2022-23, when he shot 38.3%. For comparison, Thomas’ high-water mark is about what Jerami Grant and Jrue Holiday averaged from distance last year. His career average is equal to Shaedon Sharpe’s or Donovan Clingan’s 2025-26 numbers.
But Thomas can score. He averaged 22.5 points over 66 games in 2023-24, 24.0 in 25 outings in 2024-25. For reference, that was 24 points in 31 minutes of play. Those are some stout numbers. His production fell off last year—part of the reason he was waived twice—but scoring is in his DNA.
Three knocks have dogged Thomas over his career. First, he’s 6’3 in a league that values height. He’s definitely playing shooting guard, not point, so that height difference stands out. Second, his defense is questionable, sometimes downright bad. Third, he’s been described as taciturn, perhaps disconnected.
Former teammate Michael Porter, Junior put it this way:
For Cam, I think it was a mixture of he was frustrated with a lot of things, and also his personality … he doesn’t really socialize. He’ll come to the gym sometimes and he’ll say like two words all day, all practice. He doesn’t really talk to anybody.
I don’t think he does it in a way where he’s trying to be a bad teammate; I just think that’s him. But when it comes to a team being willing to pay you and come off that money and you’re a No. 1 option, it comes with so much more. I don’t know if he was willing to break out of his personality and be talkative and try to be a leader and bring guys together. I think that’s kind of what happened here in Brooklyn.
Honestly, that description alone should cause Portland to think twice, particularly since their roster already includes Shaedon Sharpe, who has often received the same criticisms. But there are some mitigating circumstances:
- Reiterating: Cam can score.
- The Blazers might be able to get him for a trial run in training camp/preseason, since this is his third team in three years. The cost would be tiny.
- Portland already has tall guards. They could switch Thomas to smaller players on defense.
- The Blazers also have a culture that might help Thomas rehabilitate. They tend to get the best out of their younger players. They already bond together. They don’t need a team leader or even a leading scorer, just help. Thomas could grow at his own pace.
- Thomas has to know that it’s now or never for his NBA career. That might provide incentive to become his best self.
Personally, I’d take a stab at Thomas just to see, but I’m not sure he’d be the right fit in Portland if the roster remains stable. But what if the Blazers traded Sharpe as part of a bigger move, leaving more of a hole at shooting guard? Defense would be a question still, as would approach, but a low-cost, low-stakes, point-a-minute scorer wouldn’t be a horrible option to fill that void. If the Blazers move Shaedon and need a spare 20 points, Thomas might be one place they look.
How about you? Is there any way you’d consider Cam Thomas as a rehabilitation project for the Blazers next year? Share your thoughts in the comments section!
