The Portland Trail Blazers and their fans haven’t had much to cheer about over the last 12 months, but with Damian Lillard getting healthy, a few smart off-season moves and a top draft pick, their outlook is suddenly much more optimistic. Jerami Grant and Lillard are both proven veterans, but their 2022 first-round pick Shaedon Sharpe is far from that, and if the pre-season is anything to go by, the potential with the No. 7 overall pick is through the roof.
https://twitter.com/trailblazers/status/1580049450218582017
That was on full display in the teams final pre-season matchup with the Warriors, where Sharpe had his best game of the pre-season, putting up 17 points, including an absolutely insane dunk on a lob from young guard Keon Johnson. There’s plenty of highlight dunks out there, but this one is top tier, and with Lillard at point guard alongside the young Sharpe, as well as Gary Payton II, there’ll be plenty more chances for the young guard to shine and show what he’s made of.
SHAEDON SHARPE OFF THE ALLEY OOP. TOUGH. pic.twitter.com/EKh8p3BPNm
— NBA (@NBA) October 12, 2022
Twitter has gone into an absolute meltdown over the dunk, and rightfully so, as the athleticism, hops and nasty finish make this one of the biggest highlights the NBA has seen this pre-season, and if Sharpe can step up and continue to deliver like this, he’ll become a key role player for this team sooner than many expected. The reaction on Twitter was exactly as you’d expect, with the highlight being played over and over again, with fans jaws dropping more each and every time, and the hope is that we can see this much more throughout the 2022 season.
Sharpe has the potential to be one of the best players that came out of the 2022 NBA Draft, and with his athleticism combined with scoring ability on all three levels, the Blazers may have gotten themselves a genuine role player with superstar potential for years and years to come.