The Portland Trail Blazers didn't have a follow-up move to the Ja Morant blockbuster, deciding to keep their backcourt logjam unresolved heading into the 2026-27 season. With a wonky roster full of point guards and centers, general manager Joe Cronin must eventually make some move to find a better roster balance.
Adding another layer of complexity in that decision-making are the two timelines the Blazers currently find themselves stuck between. Their young core is too talented to bottom out, even reaching the postseason for the first time of this rebuild. However, they also aren't quite at that level of contention, and will have to continue upgrading their roster to make a deep playoff run in the coming seasons.
That could mean sacrificing some of this promising youth to accelerate the rebuild, but the question is who should Portland make available?
Blazers should entertain offers for Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson
Former top-ten picks Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson could be intriguing assets given their upside and draft pedigree. And with how this backcourt looks with Morant somehow now in the picture, Portland should be more open to trading one of its foundational pieces to end this rebuild once and for all.
The most pressing roster decision is what to do with Henderson, who is currently eligible for a rookie-scale extension leading up to the start of the season. Developing him doesn't necessarily mean Portland has to offer him that extension, but Henderson has shown enough progress to justify keeping him around one way or another.
Even if it's not the go-to role the Blazers envisioned when they drafted Henderson No. 3 overall in 2023, he still has an underrated role coming off the bench as an evolving 3-and-D guard. At just 22 years old with one of the best work ethics on the team, that should continue to be the case.
It may come as a surprise that Sharpe is a worse fit for this Blazers roster than Henderson. After all, he's the one Portland actually committed long-term to with the four-year, $90 million extension last offseason. He's also a far better positional fit, given Sharpe's ability to slide up to the small forward spot thanks to his positional size and top-tier athleticism.
Shaedon Sharpe doesn't fit this revamped Blazers backcourt
However, that extension carried risk, as Portland projected the player Sharpe could eventually become into that figure.
Because of concerns about his defense and one-dimensional, score-first approach, Sharpe is the type of player whose stats are more impressive than his actual impact on winning. Multiple Blazers head coaches have come to the same conclusion, with Sharpe benched by Chauncey Billups midseason and, more recently, falling out of Tiago Splitter's playoff rotation against the San Antonio Spurs.
That playoff series was the first real test for this young core. It was a valuable experience for player development and evaluation, giving Portland the chance to see these players under the playoff spotlight, where it's nearly impossible to mask flaws in your game.
Henderson struggled in that series, particularly with inconsistent shooting and scoring, as he came back down to Earth as the series progressed. But with this new-look Blazers roster, both Henderson and Sharpe will struggle to play consistently, as they are no longer focal points of this offense.
They had the opportunity to earn the keys to the backcourt and lost them, in part due to their respective untimely injuries. Sharpe is now out for roughly six months after suffering a lateral meniscus tear in his right knee. That could only further solidify the fact that he's the odd man out in this backcourt.
If the Blazers can figure out how to best fit Ja Morant, Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday, and Scoot Henderson together, there's no reason to risk throwing that off balance by bringing in a ball-dominant player, especially one with defensive and floor-spacing limitations.
Portland should be open to entertaining offers for both Henderson and Sharpe, as neither should be untouchable given the state of this backcourt. But assuming trade value is roughly the same, Henderson should be the one to stay.
Whatever the final version of this roster looks like, it'll be far easier to find a scalable role for him. Plus, when in doubt, it's easier to sleep at night knowing you invested in the player with the far better work ethic.
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