Andrew Schlecht and Alex Speers discussed the winners and losers of the 2025-26 NBA schedule on The Athletic NBA Daily podcast. They picked the Portland Trail Blazers as one of the losers, noting their demanding schedule to start the season.
"Coming off their strong second-half finish last season, pre-season hopes for the Portland Trail Blazers will quickly be dashed due to a brutal opening schedule," Speers said.
Here is Portland's schedule to start the regular season:
- Wednesday, October 22: vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
- Friday, October 24: vs. Golden State Warriors
- Sunday, October 26: at Los Angeles Clippers
- Monday, October 27: at Los Angeles Lakers
- Wednesday, October 29: at Utah Jazz
- Friday, October 31: vs. Denver Nuggets
- Monday, November 3: vs. Los Angeles Lakers
- Wednesday, November 5: vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
Blazers' schedule could quickly make Holiday trade look like a mistake
The Blazers hope to build on their strong finish from last season, but this opening schedule is a harsh reminder of how far they still need to go to contend in the loaded Western Conference.
Six of those teams Portland plays finished as top seven seeds in the West last season. To make matters worse, they play West teams in 11 of their first 13 games. The Eastern Conference teams in that slate aren't much easier, either, as they have to play the always competitive Miami Heat (November 8) and the improved Orlando Magic (November 10), both on the road.
Portland had a similarly brutal West-heavy schedule to start last season, resulting in just 11 wins by New Year's and quickly falling behind in the standings. It wouldn't be surprising if history repeats itself in 2025-26.
If Portland gets off to another slow start, it will be hard to justify the win-now trade for Jrue Holiday. The immediate regret won't necessarily come from Holiday's play. Despite his age, he may even outperform his 11.1 points and 3.9 assists from last season in Boston due to an increased offensive role in Portland. Rather, the regret will stem from how Holiday fits into the big picture of the Blazers' rebuild.
He will still provide valuable mentorship for Portland's young core, particularly the backcourt of Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe. But at the same time, he's also taking away minutes -- and potentially even a starting role -- from the players he was brought in to help develop.
The Blazers were wise to trade Anfernee Simons, especially after seeing how that situation is playing out in Boston with the Celtics struggling to find a trade partner for him. But in many ways, Portland swapped one backcourt logjam for another -- one with no end in sight as Holiday has three years remaining on his massive deal.
Holiday is a more impactful player than Simons thanks to his two-way skillset. However, he's not the needle-mover Portland needs to successfully navigate the Western Conference gauntlet. They'll immediately find that out this season.