Shaedon Sharpe is the one Portland Trail Blazers player whose upside you want to bet on most. Fortunately, Portland did just that, inking him to a four-year, $90 million extension prior to the season.
Some think the decision came with risk attached, given his relative lack of impact on winning the past three seasons, but we're not buying it. At worst, Sharpe can be valuable in a sixth-man role on a contender.
Few guards in the league can compete with his rare combination of physical tools and skill set as a guard who has to worry about hitting his head on the rim while also somehow looking like the smoothest player on the court with the ball in his hands. It's like he needs to play with a helmet and sunglasses or something.
The point is, the Blazers wisely bet on Sharpe's untapped potential, projecting the player they think he will become into that extension figure.
Portland's investment in Shaedon Sharpe was never really a risk
He's already averaging 21.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. The current version of Sharpe can still justify a $22.5 million/year average salary, especially looking at what players around the league are making these days. Any improvement over the next four seasons will make that a steal for Portland.
Sharpe has gradually improved each season since entering the league as the No. 7 overall pick in 2022, so there's no reason that trend shouldn't continue as he approaches his prime. He has a legitimate star ceiling, but the determining factor in whether he reaches that could ultimately come down to his 3-point shot.
As a score-first, offensive-minded shooting guard, it's essential that Sharpe is able to space the floor reliably. It's going to be difficult to exceed the value of his contract if he's a below-average shooter. But there's reason for optimism, as Sharpe has overcome a slow start to the season and now sits at 34% from beyond the arc. He connected on 44% of his attempts in December and 37.3% in January.
Sharpe continues to trend upwards as he becomes a more complete player. The biggest question surrounding this investment was whether he'd be able to take that next step from being a theoretical talent to actually reaching that ceiling. But Sharpe also dealt with injuries and a controversial benching early in his career.
He's finally being made a priority in Portland, both in terms of his role and extension. And at 22 years old, Sharpe is just scratching the surface of how good he'll make that investment look.