Though not a Basketball Hall of Famer by any means, you can’t begin to tell the story of the Trail Blazers without several mentions of point guard Terry Porter. A former standout at NAIA Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Porter nearly made the 1984 U.S. Olympic Team despite battling through the chicken pox. While he didn’t get to play for the American team in Los Angeles, Porter was good enough to be a first-round pick by Portland in the 1985 NBA Draft.
Portland selected Porter No. 24 overall. He would go on to play his first 10 of 17 NBA seasons with the Trail Blazers. After playing sparingly as a rookie in 1985-86, Porter emerged as the Trail Blazers’ starting point guard the very next season. Porter would be the floor general in Rip City during the Rick Adelman/Clyde Drexler years.
In his 10 years with the Trail Blazers, Porter twice made the Western Conference All-Star Team, first in 1991 and again in 1993. The Trail Blazers would twice win the Western Conference before falling to the Detroit Pistons and the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals. Porter would be released by the Trail Blazers in September 1995. He played seven more NBA seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs.
Porter would retire after the 2001-02 NBA season at age 38 as a member of the Spurs. After retiring, Porter got into coaching. He used to lead the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns. Now, he mans the sidelines for the Portland Pilots in the West Coast Conference. Porter has his No. 30 rightfully retired by the Trail Blazers. In 10 years with Portland, Porter averaged 14.9 points, 7.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 31.6 minutes per contest.