The Portland Trail Blazers have been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons in their first offseason under new owner Tom Dundon.
The cost-cutting measures have been bad enough. They not only negatively affected the Blazers organization from top to bottom, but they also set a dangerous precedent that could have negative ripple effects around the league.
Other frugal owners could be happy to see Dundon as the fall guy, as it now opens a door for them to follow a similar blueprint, especially if the Blazers experience a similar level of success as Dundon has had with his NHL Carolina Hurricanes.
But somehow the cost-cutting measures have beena secondary talking point, as fans are left to wonder whether this team will even remain in Portland. What once seemed like sensationalized clickbait by Blazers media looks less like fear-mongering and more like a realistic possibility with each passing day.
The Ringer's Bill Simmons even recently proposed a concerning theory regarding Dundon's potential plan to buy the Blazers and move them out of Portland because that was far cheaper than the alternative of purchasing an expansion franchise.
Why the Trail Blazers will likely remain in Portland
At least one of the Blazers insiders close to the organization, Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report, doesn't seem too worried about the possibility of Portland no longer having an NBA team to root for.
"Despite all of this, I've never been particularly worried about the Blazers actually leaving Portland, and I'm still not," he wrote.
Dundon hasn't directly made it clear he wants to move the team out of Portland. However, one thing he has made clear is that the Moda Center needs a makeover, and he doesn't want to be the one to pay for it.
While Dundon doesn't necessarily seem in love with the idea of staying in Portland due to the tax rates, among other things, Highkin brings up the fact that he doesn't really have a choice.
He mentions the possibility that this $573 million combined funding package will be viewed as a lose-lose scenario for both Portland and the Blazers. Portland giving in to a billionaire's demands in the form of millions of dollars as he uses his leverage of the threat of relocation. Dundon for staying in Portland even though he essentially just bought into the idea of buying any franchise rather than buying into a specific team or community (which again, goes along with Simmons' theory).
"Whenever the $573 million combined funding package passes and the 20-year lease agreement does get done—and I still firmly believe it will—nobody's going to be happy about it," Highkin wrote. "The city will have been successfully extorted for millions of dollars and had their NBA franchise held hostage by an out-of-town billionaire. Dundon will be forced to stay here against his will instead of moving to a city with lower taxes. Blazers fans will get to keep their team, but it will still be owned by this guy."
This is an increasingly messy situation that has snowballed further than fans expected. It's not ideal, but Blazers fans don't need to love their billionaire owner as long as the team actually stays in Portland. And fortunately, despite the theories and negative reports, people close to the situation, like Highkin, remain confident that's the case.
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