The Portland Trail Blazers’ behemoth young center has drawn widespread praise for his offseason development, his potential and his importance to the future, sparking some in the organization to predict a breakout season.
One teammate called him a “safety net” for the team’s vaunted defense. Another berated him for rejecting his shot in a summer workout. Everyone, it seems, believes he’s headed toward a monster season.
“Donovan (Clingan),” Kris Murray said, “is going to help us a lot this year.”
What, you were thinking Yang Hansen?
While the NBA world grew enamored with the Blazers’ affable rookie center from China, Clingan quietly spent the summer redefining his physique, working on his weaknesses and cementing his status as the Blazers’ starting center. The 7-foot-2 defensive bulldog emerged as a building block last season as a rookie, flourishing over the final two months to earn NBA All-Rookie Second Team honors, but he appears poised to take a significant step forward in 2025-26.
“I think he’s doing great,” coach Chauncey Billups said last week. “I’m really happy with where he’s at.”
It’s a far cry from where Clingan was at only a year ago.
Clingan’s welcome-to-the-NBA moment did not come the first time the Blazers faced LeBron James or the first time he visited Madison Square Garden or the first time he matched up against Nikola Jokic or Anthony Davis. It came in Tualatin, during training camp, when Clingan could barely make it through a scrimmage.
As Billups was in the nascent stages of building his team into a defensive-minded, fast-paced, “uncomfortable” out, perhaps no one was more uncomfortable than Clingan. It was all too common to see him laboring up and down the court, huffing and puffing, because he was gassed from the pace and persistence of the game. He could only go hard in short bursts before growing tired and, sooner rather than later, he needed a breather.
“I would be out of breath and gassed,” Clingan said. “Absolutely exhausted.”
Flash forward a year later and it’s as if Clingan has morphed into a different person.
He relentlessly competes through entire practices and workouts, urging Hansen and other backup bigs to keep up, while holding down a vital role as the anchor in the middle of the Blazers’ defense. At the end of one strenuous training camp practice last week, Clingan was drenched in sweat and smiling, bragging that — after playing “9-,10-, 11-minutes straight” without a sub — he felt like he “could just keep going.”
Training camp is always filled with stories about remarkable summer growth and stunning physical improvement. But in Clingan’s case, the evidence of his offseason dedication is plastered all over his body. He looks leaner, meaner and stronger. He said he didn’t know exactly how much weight he lost in the offseason, but Clingan has trimmed down to roughly 280 pounds — his same weight at the draft combine two years ago — with significantly more muscle mass and strength.
As a result, the Blazers say, he’s moving as well as he ever has and playing longer stretches than he ever has, which is allowing him to make a greater impact than he ever has.
“He looks completely different, in my opinion,” Murray said after a workout last week. “He’s moving really well. I think it was a big point of emphasis for him this offseason, and I think he’s done really well, getting better at that. He played basically the whole practice today, all the scrimmages, and he looks really good.”
During Clingan’s exit interview last season, general manager Joe Cronin and Billups laid out an ambitious summer for their young center. They said he needed to work on his speed and footwork, enhance his finishing around the rim, improve his three-point shooting and continue to fine-tune his rebounding and rim-protecting.
And above all else, he needed to get in waaaaay better shape.
Clingan decided on a simple way to meet the moment: Play basketball. Play lots and lots of basketball. So he did just that, joining the Blazers in multiple volunteer mini-camps, participating in pick-up games in Los Angeles against NBA players, and spending countless hours at the team’s practice facility in Tualatin. He rode a little bit on an exercise bike, he lifted loads of weights, but the bulk of his physical transformation came because he lived on the hardwood.
“It was all about just running, just being on the court,” he said. “I played as much five-on-five as I could, I got a lot of run in, and I just really pushed myself when I was tired.”
By the time the Blazers returned for volunteer workouts in September, the difference was striking. During one random pick-up game at the practice facility, Jrue Holiday wiggled into the lane, hoisted a little floater from the left side and Clingan emphatically rejected the shot.
“He was like, ‘Hey, don’t do that again,’” Clingan said, laughing at the memory. “I said, ‘Hey, man, I’m just doing my job.’”
Clingan emerged late last season after DeAndre Ayton suffered a season-ending calf injury, starting 27 of the final 28 games. He averaged 8.8 points, 9.9 rebounds and 1.8 blocks, while shooting 55.6% from the field, and his defense was important to the Blazers’ late-season surge. He led all rookies and ranked fifth in the NBA in blocks per game (1.6) and ranked eighth in the league in contested two-point field goal attempts (487).
On a team constructed around defense and depth, Clingan’s development has been integral. Murray calls him the Blazers’ “safety net,” and the team’s most imposing defender says Clingan’s importance is immeasurable.
“Just his presence can deter a lot of drives, a lot of decision-making,” Toumani Camara said. “A lot of people are going to (hesitate) while the paint. It’s going to help us huge. I mean, even last year, for the small amount of playing time he was able to play, his impact at the rim was just huge. I’m really excited to have DC protecting the rim for me, for sure.”
While Shaedon Sharpe put on a show, Camara unleashed a barrage of early-game three-pointers and Deni Avdija did a little bit of everything, it was Clingan who scored the first points in the Blazers’ exhibition opener against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. Fittingly, the bucket came on a rebound tip-in after he fought for position and carved out space for an offensive rebound. Clingan only played 11 minutes in the opener, but he finished with four points, seven rebounds and one steal.
The Blazers cleared the deck for Clingan to start in July, when they agreed to a contract buyout with Ayton, and the 21-year-old from Connecticut said he is determined to reward the organization’s faith.
“I just want to impact winning, man, do whatever it takes in as many ways as possible to win,” Clingan said. “If that’s screening and getting guys open, dunking in the lob game, whatever. Really, me, I love defense. So blocking shots, impacting shots at the rim, rebounding, whatever I can do to help my team win. That’s what I’ll do. That’s what success looks like for me.”
And while it shocked the NBA world when the Blazers acquired Hansen on draft night — just one year after it selected Clingan with the No. 9 overall pick — imagine what was going through Clingan’s mind.
They play the same position. They stand the same size. There’s only one year difference in their age.
Most NBA players would have been incensed. But Clingan?
“I was excited,” he said.
Wait … what?
“I was here to watch his (predraft) workout,” Clingan said. “I saw he was very talented and thought it would be fun to play alongside him. His passing ability, the way he can score, his footwork; there are a lot of different aspects he brings. We can swap each other out. I feel like it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Latest Blazers news
Trail Blazers fall to Warriors: Overreactions on Shaedon Sharpe, Toumani Camara, Yang Hansen
Trail Blazers lose to Golden State Warriors, but impress in preseason opener: Rapid Reaction
Trail Blazers’ starting lineup vs. Golden State Warriors in preseason opener includes surprise
Portland Trail Blazers vs. Golden State Warriors in preseason: Preview, TV channel, how to watch
Tom Dundon says his group can buy the Blazers without money from Panda Express founders
That Kumbaya has carried over into camp. Hansen said Clingan has repeatedly pulled him aside during workouts and scrimmages, especially following missteps, to explain what Hansen did wrong and how he can correct the mistake. And when Hansen has trouble grasping Billups’ directives during practice, Clingan has gone out of his way to explain in detail to his new teammate.
After all, it was only one year ago when Clingan was laboring through his own rookie woes.
“I’m just trying to talk to Hansen a little bit and share a little bit of knowledge,” Clingan said. “Even when we’re playing against each other. I’ll just help him out, share a few things, just because I was in his position last year. I don’t want him to sit out there and suffer. I just want to help him as many ways as possible.”
That impressive two-month stretch last season offered Rip City a taste of Clingan’s potential.
And now, armed with a new physique, a year of experience and a spot in the starting lineup, Clingan is light-years ahead of where he was as a rookie.
“One, physically, he looks different,” Billups said. “You look at his body and you see the hard work he’s put in over the summer. Two, mentally, he knows what to expect now. He’s been through an entire season. His leadership, his voice, him talking on defense out there, it’s just like night and day. It really is. And that’s what you want to see for a guy coming into his second year who logged quite a few minutes last year. I would say, if he was in college, like, it’s the difference between being … a freshman and an incoming senior. That’s the education he got last year.”