Around the Thanksgiving Table with the Portland Trail Blazers

Thanksgiving will be a special time for the 2021-2022 Portland Trail Blazers.

The team has won four of their last five heading into the holiday, and get to spend it in the lovely San Francisco Bay area as they await a Friday matchup with Golden State.

So as we sit down with our families on Thanksgiving, let’s play fly-on-the-turkey for the Portland Trail Blazers team Thanksgiving dinner together.

Around the Thanksgiving Table with the Portland Trail Blazers

Damian Lillard is thankful that Daryl Morey is the only one who thinks Ben Simmons for Lillard is an even swap and that he was able to shake off his early-season shooting slump to become Damian Lillard again.

CJ McCollum is very happy Neil Olshey — or whomever is answering his phone these days — didn’t push the panic button and trade him two weeks ago.

Norman Powell still wakes up and pinches himself every morning to make sure he really is out of Toronto.

Robert Covington is grateful he has yet to be asked to venture inside the three-point line on the offensive end.

Jusuf Nurkic appreciates that his teammates have forgiven his putrid effort and surly body language through the season’s first 16 games, now that he’s fully engaged and playing well.

Anfernee Simons and Nassir Little are thankful for the opportunity to show you some more of their potential and would love to be back at the table — but in bigger chairs — next year.

Larry Nance Jr. is grateful to be out of Cleveland and for the well-earned adoration of Blazer fans.

Cody Zeller loves that he can come into games for Nurkic and look like Hakeem Olajuwon in comparison.

Tony Snell wants everyone to know he’s willing to sit at the kid’s table for a little while longer, but he really wants to be able to eat dessert with the adults.

Greg Brown III is thankful nobody made fun of him for wearing Birkenstocks on the bench (he was sitting the game out with an injury, but still…).

CJ Elleby is just happy he still gets to tell people he’s an NBA player.

Dennis Smith Jr. and Ben McLemore are sitting together, pretending to be thankful, but really just complaining to each other about how Chef Billups burned the turkey and overcooked the veggies.

Trendon Watford is that cousin that nobody really knows that well or sees very often.

Chauncey Billups is truly thankful that the team seems to be responding to his leadership in his first NBA head coaching job.

Neil Olshey is happy most of us seem to have forgotten that he is under investigation for being a jerk.

And finally, Blazer fans are thankful for Billups’s flexibility, Lillard’s resurgence, McCollum’s steady excellence while Lillard struggled, Little’s big steps forward, Simons’s big steps up into a larger role, Zeller’s consistency, Nance’s effort, Snell’s patience, and Brown’s occasional but spectacular displays of athleticism.

Once Thanksgiving weekend is over we can turn our attention to what each Blazer wants for Christmas — stay tuned.