The 2025-26 Portland Trail Blazers season unofficially started Monday, when the team hosted its annual media day event at the Moda Center.
For more than three hours, players, coaches and team executives answered questions about expectations, the impending change in ownership, contract extensions, injuries, summer growth, the starting lineup and much, much more.
The day was filled with hope and optimism, befitting a franchise that has completed a large chunk of the heavy lifting from its multiyear roster rebuild. The focus, for the first time in years, is about chasing wins instead of lottery ping pong balls.
Here are a few highlights from media day:
JERAMI GRANT DID NOT EXPECT TO RETURN TO PORTLAND
The day was filled with chatter about the Blazers’ defensive identity, its new offensive wrinkles, summer gains, Damian Lillard’s return and Yang Hansen’s introduction. For the most part, the message from players was monotonous and expected.
But that was not the case from Jerami Grant.
During exit interviews at the end of last season, the veteran guard/forward expressed disappointment about his place in the offense and how he might fit into the next stage of the Blazers’ rebuild. Since Grant signed a five-year, $160 million contract in 2023, he has battled injuries, endured a rash of defeats and been overtaken by talented young forwards Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara in the frontcourt.
When asked Monday if he thought he’d be back in Portland for another season, Grant couldn’t help but smile.
“Probably not,” he said. “I definitely didn’t. But I’m happy that I’m here right now. The way the team is structured and everything, the changes that were made, I think it’s beneficial for me and for our team.”
TWO APPROACHES TO STARTING LINEUP BATTLE
In the wake of Scoot Henderson’s untimely hamstring injury, the Blazers seemingly enter training camp with just one starting job up for grabs.
Jrue Holiday is penciled in at point guard, Donovan Clingan is poised to take over at center, and Avdija and Camara are the overwhelming favorites to start at forward, leaving shooting guard as the only question mark — and Shaedon Sharpe and Grant as the leading contenders for the job.
Both were asked about the battle in different ways on Monday. And both had dramatically different things to say about it.
Grant has not come off the bench since the 2019-20 season, when he played for the Detroit Pistons in the NBA bubble at the height of COVID-19, and when asked if he had thought about doing so this season, he scoffed.
“Nah,” Grant said, “I don’t really expect that.”
And what about Sharpe? Does the fourth-year shooting guard expect to be a starter?
“I don’t expect anything, really,” Sharpe said. “I just expect for me to come in and help this team. Whether that’s coming off the bench or starting, it doesn’t really matter to me. I’m just going to come out and do what I’ve got to do to help this team.”
Sharpe said he has not talked to Chauncey Billups about his role ahead of training camp. But the Blazers’ coach made it clear Monday that even though he’s holding the clipboard, he’s not the one making calls about the starting lineup.
“There’s a lot of different ways you could go,” Billups said. “I say this to y’all and I say this to our guys — I’m not really the one that’s deciding that. I’m really not. I’m just going to be the messenger in it. They’ve got to go earn it. Whoever earns it, whoever plays the best, whoever plays the best as a unit, (they) are going to be the starters.”
And while some might see the battle and differing approaches as a potential foundation for future controversy, Billups holds a different view.
“I’m really happy to even have this discussion, to have the talent, to have the depth,” he said. “This is new for me. So I’m really excited about that. At the end of the day, I’m a fair coach, and I think that they all need to go and earn it. We don’t have and All-Star on this team or a top-75 guy now that Dame is not playing. Jrue probably will be a Hall of Famer at some point. But we don’t have that one (or) two guys. So, to me, everybody’s just got to go earn it. And I’ve always been about that. I believe that’s the best way to be. And so I’m really not making that decision to be honest, these guys are.”
SHARPE CONTRACT EXTENSION
Sharpe’s fight for a starting spot could have extra meaning. He’s eligible for a contract extension before the start of the regular season, and if the sides don’t reach a deal, he would become a restricted free agent next summer.
As he heads into his fourth NBA season, Sharpe has not yet established himself as an obvious maximum-contract player, so negotiations are tricky. One team source told The Oregonian/OregonLive an extension seems “unlikely.”
Sharpe downplayed the situation Monday, saying he was “leaving it to my agents.” And while most would view this as a pivotal season, Sharpe said he was entering with a clear head and nothing to prove.
“I don’t feel no pressure,” he said. “I feel like the guys we got here are special. We’ve been practicing for three weeks now, so just building that chemistry and just knowing each other, I think we’ll do fine. I just want to come home, play basketball, play hard, do what I got to do to help this team.”
Cronin said the Blazers are open to signing Sharpe to a long-term deal, but declined to offer specifics about the negotiations, saying he wanted to keep the talks “private between the player and us.”
“I think the way we’re building this roster and the commitment level we have to all of our young guys, we’re very open-minded,” Cronin said. “If it makes sense for both them and us, we’re very open-minded to taking this out very long-term.”
PRESIDENT, GM OPERATING ‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’ AMID OWNERSHIP CHANGE
One of the biggest subplots of the season is the impending ownership change and what — if any — the transition from the Paul Allen estate will have on current team executives.
If Sharpe and the Blazers reach terms on an extension, who clears Cronin to do the deal? If Cronin wants to make a move at the trade deadline, does he have to gain clearance from the new regime?
As president Dewayne Hankins steers the business side of the Blazers, is it business as usual … or wait and see?
“That was really a priority for us, even when this process started in the spring, that it was business as usual,” Hankins said. “Jody (Allen) maintains her ownership of the team, the estate, all of that, until a time when that changes. We don’t know the total deadline or timeline on that yet, but we’ve been able to get a lot of projects done around here, been able to sign players, trade players. There has not been any restrictions or anything in terms of how we operate the business. Jody’s always been focused on the long-term sustainability of the franchise, and that’s the route we’ve taken.”
Cronin and Hankins said they’ve chatted with future owner Tom Dundon multiple times in “due-diligence” calls and “get-to-know-each-other meetings.” Both said the interactions were positive and they praised Dundon’s winning pedigree with the Carolina Hurricanes and his willingness to “make a multibillion dollar bet on Portland.”
But until Dundon and his group officially take control, the Paul Allen estate will continue to call the shots.
“I really like his mentality and what he’s going to bring to the table,” Cronin said of Dundon. “And I think he’s going to be great for this franchise and this city. As far as how things will work until Tom officially takes over, it’s pretty clear … Jody’s the chair, she’s the owner, she’s the final decision-maker until that actual transition happens, which we’re forecasting sometime next spring.”
WE’RE TALKING ABOUT … PLAYOFFS?
While it’s clear the Blazers have finally reached the point of their rebuild where wins mean more than lottery odds, it seems far-fetched to imagine the Blazers surging all the way into playoff contention in the loaded Western Conference.
This is still a relatively young team, with room to grow and questions to answer. The roster does not feature a (healthy) star player. And the offense, when it isn’t pushing the pace and creating fast-break opportunities, will have its share of struggles.
When asked about the Blazers’ playoff chances, Cronin stopped short of saying it was a goal.
“The goal is to compete every night,” he said. “Do we want to make the play-in? Yes. Do we want to make the playoffs? Yes. Do we want to win 16 playoff games? Yes. I don’t have expectations and I won’t be disappointed if those things don’t happen, as long as we’re continually growing. We’re still thinking big picture with this roster, knowing that until our young guys are ready to help really fuel winning, we’re not going to be good enough. And we’re going to take that approach. But with that, we’re confident in our abilities, we’re confident in the additions we’ve made, we’re expecting to be a quality team each and every night.”