The Portland Trail Blazers have put together an NBA offseason of roster-building that is garnering mixed reactions from fans and media alike. At the very least, it’s hard to argue the moves haven’t set up an intriguing season in Rip City.
The source of most of that intrigue and polarization stems from the Blazers’ big move of the summer: a surprising, low-risk/high-reward trade for two-time All-Star Ja Morant that sent forwards Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to the Memphis Grizzlies. Portland’s other
big offseason move was re-signing backup center Robert Williams III to a three-year deal, a widely praised deal after the big man produced a healthy 2025-26 campaign and shined during the playoffs. Beyond that, the Blazers primarily painted around the edges, signing some extra big man depth (Branden Carlson, Micah Potter) and forward Jeremy Sochan to a non-guaranteed deal. Of course, the franchise also awaits the highly anticipated return of a healthy Damian Lillard this fall.
While some fans may have wanted a bigger swing for a sure-fire All-Star talent to add to Portland’s core, the silver lining of that trade not materializing is the Trail Blazers still own practically all of their best trade chips, including the valuable future first-round draft capital from the Milwaukee Bucks. That gives Portland optionality moving forward.
So what did the larger NBA national media landscape think of Portland’s offseason body of work? The answer to that question is a mixed bag. We’ve put together a Blazers-centric round-up of NBA offseason grades/rankings from different publications. Take a look.
Andy Bailey, Bleacher Report, July 27, Grade: A
The Portland Trail Blazers were already going to be one of the more intriguing teams in the league with Damian Lillard coming back from injury.
They’re one of the few organizations that could’ve done almost nothing and easily justify it. They just made the playoffs, and there’s reason to believe all of Deni Avdija, Donovan Clingan and Toumani Camara could be better and will benefit from playing with Lillard.
But Portland didn’t sit still. They picked up Ja Morant as a salary dump. And though the last few years cratered his trade value, Morant will still be just 27 years old when the season starts. It’s too early to give up on his slashing, which could go a long way toward pulling defenders away from Lillard and Avdija on the outside.
Lorenzo Reyes, USA Today, Aug. 5, Grade: C+
They were the only team to fail to make a single pick in a draft loaded with talent, so the big move was the trade for two-time All-Star Ja Morant. Pairing him next to Damian Lillard masks some of Morant’s shooting inadequacies. Morant is still 26 years old and comes relatively cheap, so if he can be reliably available, this could be a sneaky good move. There’s just a lot of uncertainty.
Micah Nori is well respected as a coach, but his one-year contract is unconventional. Possible relocation is looming over the franchise, but Portland has a glut of guards between Lillard, Morant, Jrue Holiday, Scoot Hendersonand Shaedon Sharpe, which may suggest more moves to come.
Ben Rohrbach, Yahoo Sports, Aug. 6, Grade: C
The Blazers are also building off considerable momentum, having captured the West’s No. 7 seed and giving the San Antonio Spurs a competitive five-game series. So, what did they do? They took a low-cost, high-reward swing for Ja Morant, who carries with him some baggage but desperately needed a change of scenery. I may be in the minority, but I believe in Morant’s ability to rediscover what made him great.
At the same time, I’m not in love with the apparent plan to pair Morant with Damian Lillard in a starting backcourt, which creates a defensive weakness where there were few in Portland last season. I’d much prefer Morant paired with Jrue Holiday, as the Blazers could stagger Lillard off the bench, and maybe they eventually get there, but as is I do not expect the Blazers to be much better, even with a productive Morant.
Meanwhile, new Blazers owner Tom Dundon has been cutting costs everywhere else, forging a rift with the Portland community. As impressive as the culture was on the court last season, it is hard to keep an entire organization paddling in the same direction when there is turmoil elsewhere within it, and that could manifest itself.
David Aldrich, The Athletic, Aug. 3, Offseason Ranking: No. 24 out of 30
Note: Aldrich said he evaluated each team’s offseason based of if the team was better at the end of the offseason than it was at the start. Subscription is required.
The skinny: Adding Morant is a reasonable gamble. I’m not at all sure, though, that Morant and Lillard can play together or defend at anything approaching league average. Bank on Jrue Holiday still playing a lot. Nori can certainly handle both people and the X’s and O’s, but the circumstances of his hire — an unheard-of-in-the-modern-era deal with just one year guaranteed — are flashing red lights. Tom Dundon’s surely going to point to his Stanley Cup-winning Hurricanes as a model for how to run his NBA team. But his hardball tactics with the city about who’s going to pay to renovate the Moda Center are lousy PR for a franchise that got some positive traction last season.
Now that we’ve heard from the analysts and writers, it’s time to hear from you, Blazer’s Edge readers? Who got their grade/ranking right? Who got it wrong? How would you assess the Blazers’ work this summer?
