Portland Trail Blazers: Caleb Swanigan may have played last NBA game

Portland Trail Blazers big man Caleb Swanigan has never looked comfortable on an NBA court. Have we seen the last of the young power forward?

Caleb Swanigan was initially drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in 2017. As a six-foot-nine power forward, he was part of the fading generation of ” tweeners. ” Swanigan was dominant offensively as a big man in two years at Purdue, but in his three years in the NBA, he had been unable to develop his shooting or his defense.

If you can’t stretch the floor as a big man, then you are a center, but if you can’t anchor the defense as a center, then you will struggle to be part of an NBA team. There are very few NBA big men who can’t shoot or play plus defense. Montrezl Harrell is one, but he is an elite and rare example who is excellent at the rim and at drawing fouls. Harrell is one of the highest energy guys in the league.

Swanigan was drafted into the NBA as the three-point shooting and pace revolution was at its height. So a six-foot-nine 260-pound power-forward was going to struggle if his game was mainly based around overpowering people around the basket.

After being drafted by the Blazers and struggling to make an impact in his first two years, he was traded to the Sacramento Kings, who then declined his fourth-year option. Then the Kings this season traded him back to the Blazers.

He did have a role after the trade for the Blazers, though it was small, he did play some minutes. He wasn’t awful in these minutes, but he struggled defensively and fouled too often. Offensively he showed a little bit, but his decision-making was poor.

Interestingly, Swanigan had slimmed down from his first stint with the Blazers. In an interview after the trade back to Portland, he said he’d lost 30 pounds since his first stint in Portland.  He showed a touch more on offense this time around because of that, finishing a little better at the rim and being more mobile.

But, when Swanigan decided to opt-out of the NBA’s restart in the bubble, this probably ended his chances of returning to the Blazers next year. With Ariza opting out, and the Blazers needing size for the seeding games, Swanigan’s availability could have helped this team.

Maybe he wouldn’t have played at all, but the fact that Swanigan opted out meant he didn’t give himself the chance to play for his next contract. It may sound harsh, but if Swanigan had a perfectly good reason for not being in the bubble, he could have confirmed that when he opted out.

Swanigan, at six-foot-nine with a seven-foot-three wingspan, has the tools to be an undersized five-man like Montrezl Harrell. He has begun to get into better shape, and I hope that this can continue so he can be part of an NBA roster in the future.

But, my prognosis is that he may have played his last NBA game. The Blazers could bring him back on a minimum deal next year, but with Wenyen Gabriel and Zach Collins ahead of him in the big men depth chart, this doesn’t look likely.