Portland Trail Blazers: Who is the team’s biggest rival?

Who would be considered the biggest rival of the Portland Trail Blazers? Right now it would probably depend on who you asked.

From 1970 the year Portland was granted a franchise until they left for Oklahoma City in 2008 the Seattle SuperSonics and the “I-5 Rivalry” as it was called was Portland’s biggest rival. Fans traveled to Seattle when the Blazers played there and Seattle fans traveled to Portland when the Sonics played.

Or, perhaps Paul Allen loved the Sonics as well as the Blazers and wanted what the Sonics had. Bob Whitsitt, remember him? He was the Seattle General Manager before arriving in Portland and had the same role with them (did he even live and work in Portland itself?) There was Ruben Patterson, Shawn Kemp, Detlef Schrempf and even Nate McMillan were all at one point members of the Sonics before they became members of the Portland Trail Blazers.

And don’t forget both teams had the top two picks in the 2007 draft, which we all know how that turned out, but it made at the time for interesting conversations and debate, speculating which player the Blazers would draft and leave the other for the Sonics. There was speculation at one point Allen was going to move the Blazers to Seattle and the joke, the Moda Center would be shipped north and traded for the Space Needle.

Portland and the Los Angeles Lakers had a big rivalry going. Blazers fans would show up at the Rose Garden, now Moda Center in “Beat LA” shirts, drums would bang during game action to the tune of and fans chanting and yelling beat LA!! Even the arena had a beat LA sign illuminated on the outside. Portland and Los Angeles took on each other in the Western Conference Finals in 1977, before the Blazers defeated Philadelphia becoming the champions.

And we all also remember the 2000 Western Conference Finals Portland’s game seven meltdowns, sending the Lakers to the Finals and eventually the title. They have had big meetings with each other since, including in the bubble last year.

But who really is their rival now? Seattle packed up and left for Oklahoma City and no more I-5 Rivalry. The Lakers have struggled as of late, with the exception of last year. Could their biggest rival be the Denver Nuggets? Denver defeated Portland in round one of the playoffs this year, which was a very intense series. They faced each other in the 2019 Western Conference Semi-Finals, in which the Blazers won 4-3, including the game that went into four overtimes.

Both teams have made big trades with each other, including the 2017 one which landed Portland Jusuf Nurkic. Some fans are still bitter over the trade in which the Blazers sent Will Barton and others to the Nuggets for less than a half a season of Arron Afflalo. Maybe Denver is Portland’s biggest rival at the present moment, but perhaps that could change at any point as time and seasons go on.