Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley recently named the Portland Trail Blazers as one of the five NBA teams that make absolutely no sense. The other four included the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, and Sacramento Kings. And well, he's not wrong, especially when it comes to the Blazers.
Portland only has one final spot remaining on its 15-man roster, which can't change the fact that this team largely consists of point guards and centers. Forward depth was already an existing problem last season, but as Buckley notes, that has only been further compounded after the arrival of a poor-fitting Morant.
"Only the Blazers' brass looked at this roster and somehow pictured Ja Morant as the missing piece on a team already featuring Damian Lillard, Scoot Henderson and Jrue Holiday. Not to mention, its best player, Deni Avdija, works best on the ball. And you'd think Shaedon Sharpe, who is a 20-points-per-game player and split his time between point and shooting guard last season, needs plenty of touches, too."
Blazers still need to balance out their roster
This roster would make sense at the beginning of their rebuild, when they were stockpiling assets and making these value-driven trades. But they are a team coming off a postseason appearance, getting healthier overall, and bringing Damian Lillard back into the equation. The Morant deal only made sense if it was a precursor to a follow-up move to round out this roster, yet all signs point to Portland's front office being content rolling into the 2026-27 with its backcourt logjam.
Jrue Holiday's positional versatility should help, and at least this team has a plethora of ballhandlers to finally address their playmaking woes as a team that led the league in turnovers per game last season. Still, looking at their updated depth chart, it gets thin quickly behind Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara.
That's the exact opposite approach that teams around the league are taking in the modern NBA, where two-way wings and defensive switchability are more important than ever. It seemed like GM Joe Cronin was prioritizing that as well when he traded for Avdija and Camara, but the Blazers have surprisingly moved away from that defensive identity this summer.
Hopefully, there is another move to be made before the start of the season because, as currently constructed, this team makes very little sense. We saw the vision with other stars they were reportedly interested in, whether that was Trey Murphy III (at February's deadline), Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jaylen Brown, or even Anthony Davis. Morant was essentially the one star trade candidate not connected to Portland, as everyone ruled them out given the bad fit.
Maybe this decision to continue adding talent on the roster will benefit Portland in the long run, but as of now, Morant is a piece that doesn't fit this puzzle. It's unfortunate considering this is Damian Lillard's closing window and last chance at a ring in Portland, yet they continue to play the long game despite already enduring years of rebuilding.
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