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From Petrie to Glide to Dame: The All-Star history of the Portland Trail Blazers

By Matt George Moore

Geoff Petrie, player for the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team.
Geoff Petrie, player for the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team. /
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PORTLAND – MARCH 6: Former NBA Player Clyde Drexler has his jersey retired by the Portland Trail Blazers during the Portland Trail Blazers vs. Vancouver Grizzlies game on March 6, 2001 at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images)
PORTLAND – MARCH 6: Former NBA Player Clyde Drexler has his jersey retired by the Portland Trail Blazers during the Portland Trail Blazers vs. Vancouver Grizzlies game on March 6, 2001 at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images) /

CLYDE DREXLER

What can be said that hasn’t already been said about Clyde Drexler? Selected to the All-Star roster a franchise-record eight times, the Glide is a member of the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team and an Olympic gold medalist as a member of the original “Dream Team.”

Drexler made the NBA All-Star team seven straight seasons (10 overall between Portland and the Houston Rockets) and during that time was arguably second only to Michael Jordan among the NBA’s elite. He was also a five-time All-NBA selection.

And he was a joy to watch. Dude could dunk on anybody.

Drafted out of the University of Houston (Phi Slama Jama!) as the 14th overall pick in the 1983 NBA draft, Drexler led the Trail Blazers to two NBA finals (1990 and 1992), although he failed to win a title in Portland. (He’d win one as a member of the Houston Rockets, to which he was traded in 1995.)

In 12 seasons with the Trail Blazers, Drexler averaged 20.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.1 steals per game. He is the greatest Trail Blazers player ever — the one all other Blazers players are chasing, not just in the record books, but in the hearts and minds of Portland (and NBA) fans everywhere.

Clyde Drexler
Clyde Drexler /

He’s the Glide, man! His number 22 jersey hangs in the Moda Center rafters and fans — young and old alike — wear replicas of his jersey to this day.

When Damian Lillard says he wants to be “the best Trail Blazer ever,” it’s Drexler’s crown he seeks to claim as his own.