The Portland Trail Blazers have been one of the most injured teams in the league this season. The silver lining to that unfortunate situation is that unexpected players have stepped up in increased roles. There may be no better example of this than two-way signing Caleb Love, who went from being an undrafted guard to making a significant impact in Portland in just a matter of months.
Love isn't your traditional rookie. He's already 24 years old after spending five collegiate seasons between North Carolina and Arizona. That combination of age and experience contributed to his undrafted status. Teams viewed him as more of a finished product with a lower ceiling or less untapped potential compared to other second-round flyers. But that ultimately turned out to be in the best interest of both Love and the Blazers, as this has proven to be a perfect match this season.
Caleb Love is exactly what Portland desperately needed
Love is averaging 11.3 points, 2.6 assists, and 2.7 rebounds on 39/33/74 shooting splits. He's even ranked 8th on the Kia Rookie Ladder ahead of top ten picks Jeremiah Fears and Dylan Harper!
While other teams may not have had that long of a leash for a two-way, undrafted rookie being an inefficient shooter, it's surprisingly exactly what this Blazers roster needs. Portland moved Jerami Grant to a sixth-man role in part because they lacked scoring and shot creation off the bench. Love helps make up for that. The Ringer's Danny Chau recently compared him to Eric Gordon, a former Sixth Man of the Year (2017).
He's also been much more efficient as of late, suggesting he's turning a corner. 2026 has been off to a better start than anyone could've imagined for both Love and the Blazers. Portland is 9-2 in that stretch, and Love has been a huge reason why, averaging 16.2 points while connecting on 37% of his 3-point attempts.
That's been a moderate sample size to suggest that this is the type of player Love will be going forward. However, there's also a chance he falls back into his inefficient ways, as he did throughout his college career and summer league.
Portland will soon have to decide which version of Love they believe is real. A player on a two-way contract can be active for up to 50 games. Love has played 37, meaning the Blazers would soon have to convert his contract to a standard one. Their 15-man roster is already full, but they could potentially open a spot with a trade by the Feb. 5 deadline.
In all likelihood, Love's production will fall somewhere in between the two extremes of the ineffective chucker we first saw and the X-Factor we've seen as of late. But even a middle-ground Love is an absolute steal for Portland.