The Portland Trail Blazers' young backcourt duo of Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe were recently named among the players Bleacher Report's Dan Favale deemed most likely to fill the 2026-27 trade rumor mill.
"At this point, the real shock will be if both Henderson and Sharpe finish next season on Portland's roster," he wrote.
Others on the list included Anthony Davis, Tyler Herro, Kyrie Irving, Trey Murphy III and Zion Williamson. Portland joins New Orleans as the only team with two potential trade candidates. Unfortunately, they both have something in common: confusing rosters that eventually need a trade or two to make better sense of it all.
Favale put it best: "Related: If anybody knows what in the hell this [Blazers| team is doing, please let us know."
Blazers may have to trade at least one of Scoot Henderson or Shaedon Sharpe
While we don't exactly know what the Blazers are doing, we at least know what they're not doing, and that's buying out Jrue Holiday.
They don't seem to be in a rush to resolve their backcourt logjam, heading into the season with a talented trio of Holiday, Damian Lillard, and Ja Morant. That's only pushed Henderson and Sharpe further down the totem pole, raising the question of whether they truly fit in Portland's long-term plans.
Last season was a better opportunity for either former top ten pick to take the keys to the backcourt.
Henderson was derailed by an offseason hamstring injury and couldn't reestablish himself within the offensive hierarchy upon return, resulting in highly inconsistent play.
Statistically, Sharpe is coming off the best season of his young career, though the Blazers still don't know how to get that to impact winning at a higher level. Tiago Splitter couldn't even rely on him enough to give him a consistent rotation in their playoff series against the Spurs, where Sharpe averaged just 13.4 minutes per game.
Henderson is currently eligible for a rookie-scale extension, while Portland reached a four-year, $90 million extension last summer with Sharpe.
At first glance, one may assume Henderson makes more sense as the odd man out given Portland's number of point guards. However, his work ethic compared to Sharpe's should make them feel more comfortable investing in Henderson going forward. Not to mention, he's developed into more of a 3-and-D guard than Sharpe, which makes him a better fit in an off-ball role.
It could be in the Blazers' best interest to simply do nothing to start the season, giving themselves until February's trade deadline to evaluate who fits. But as Favale mentioned, it would be surprising if at least one of them weren't involved in trade rumors this season, if not traded entirely.
A surprising development in Portland's rebuild, but one that needed to happen after years of inconsistent play.
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