The Portland Trail Blazers fell to the Sacramento Kings 128-107. As is the case with any blowout loss, there were more negatives than positives. Most significantly, the Blazers are out of play-in contention, even though they may not be eliminated mathematically. Portland doesn't have the tiebreaker over either Phoenix or Dallas and finds themselves four games out of the ten seed with just eight games remaining.
With that being the harsh reality, the Blazers can now shift their focus towards an offseason that is pivotal for their rebuild, with several upcoming key decisions that will have to be made. Portland's top offseason priority should be to address their shooting woes.
Their lack of three-point shooting is a flaw that has been exposed in several losses the past few seasons but was most recently evident in their loss to Sacramento. The Blazers shot just 16-of-50 from beyond the arc.
Blazers must address shooting woes this offseason
This season, they're averaging 37.5 three-point attempts, hovering around the league average; that is the right way to approach offense in the modern NBA, with analytics proving how valuable the three-point shot is. The Blazers should continue shooting threes at that high volume, but the issue is they aren't making them at an efficient enough rate.
Currently, they rank 23rd in the league at 34.8 percent. That's an improvement in an area they finished dead last in the previous season, but it's still nowhere close for a team that expects to compete in the Western Conference soon.
They will gradually improve with the internal development of their young core. But there are also question marks surrounding whether or not two of their best shooters -- Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant -- are going to be around much longer.
This offseason, the Blazers can't afford to ignore this glaring issue yet again. Their best bets to add more shooting will likely be via draft and trade. Some sharpshooters they could target in the 2025 NBA Draft to fill this need include Liam McNeeley, Kon Knueppel, and Jase Richardson (depending on what they decide to do with Simons).
Shooters available for trade this offseason could potentially include Cam Johnson, Dalton Knecht, Michael Porter Jr., Buddy Hield, and Grayson Allen. Whether they want to target these players specifically is another question, with an answer that depends on the asking price for each player.
Regardless of which particular player(s) the Blazers go out and get this summer, shooting needs to be at the forefront of their decision-making. This loss to the Kings was just the latest brutal reminder of that.