2 Former Trail Blazers thriving, 3 struggling elsewhere to start 2023-24

Thriving Blazer No. 2: Cam Reddish, Los Angeles Lakers

Thriving can be a matter of perspective, especially for a former top-10 pick who’s shown flashes of starter-level potential and is still young but has yet to put everything together.

Cam Reddish entered the league as the No. 10 pick in the 2019 draft. He was skilled and athletic and looked like he was built in a lab to fit the three-and-D archetype. Physically, he still is all those things – he just hasn’t been able to hit threes or play D at a high enough level to approach the expectations that were set for him.

He’s a career 32.4 percent shooter from three, including a 31.8 percent mark during his time in Portland. This season, he’s connecting on 35.1 of his shots from beyond the arc, and 2023-24 is only the second time he’s had a true shooting percentage over 51. His 1.6 steals per game is a career high as well.

Reddish has started half the games he’s played in LA and is seventh on the team in minutes. He’ll likely never become the player scouts thought he would be when he left Duke after one season, but, at least through 12 games this year, it looks like he’s finding a niche as a contributor on a contending team.