The Portland Trail Blazers currently have a 25-33 record with less than two months remaining in the 2024-25 season. They've already exceeded their 21-win total from last season and have shown even more progress lately, winning 12 of their past 17 games. Question marks remain on this unfinished roster, but there's also been promising player development, which has been reflected in their improved play as of late.
So, where do the Blazers stand in Week 19?
Where the Trail Blazers rank as of Feb. 26
According to experts from six major outlets, including NBA, The Athletic, ESPN, Yahoo Sports, Fox Sports, and USA Today, here is where Portland ranks as of Feb. 26:
Blazers Rank | Site | Updated |
|---|---|---|
17 (-1) | NBA | Feb. 24 |
23 (+2) | The Athletic | Feb. 25 |
22 | ESPN | Feb. 26 |
22 | Yahoo Sports | Feb. 25 |
17 | Fox Sports | Feb. 25 |
22 | USA Today | Feb. 19 |
Despite still ranking them the lowest amongst major outlets, Law Murray of The Athletic had the Blazers take the biggest leap since the last power ranking.
"Portland is still playing with real purpose, even with the multi-week absence of center Deandre Ayton and the team's precarious spot in the standings. It's not yet shutdown time for veterans such as Jerami Grant, Anfernee Simons, and Deni Avdija, while recent lottery picks Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe have to wait to get full run while coming off the bench," wrote Murray.
The Blazers are in no man's land
The Blazers are in a precarious spot indeed. Their average rank between the six outlets is 20.5. That's similar to where they fall in the overall NBA standings as Portland has the tenth-worst record in the association.
If the season ended today, they'd have just a three percent chance at the No. 1 overall pick this summer and a 13.9 percent chance of landing in the top four.
Meanwhile, they are still fighting for a spot in the play-in tournament in the competitive Western Conference. Portland's odds of achieving that goal may have improved slightly due to the Suns' struggles and the unfortunate news surrounding Victor Wembanyama's season-ending blood clot for the Spurs. Still, their odds are still slim as they remain 4.5 games back from the ten-seeded Kings.
Portland is trending upward in terms of power rankings compared to where they were in recent weeks. But they may regret not taking their team in the opposite direction by the time the summer rolls around.
The play-in tournament would be an excellent experience for the second-youngest team in the NBA. But it's not that important to the point where it should be a higher priority than landing a top pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
This doesn't mean the Blazers' season is a waste, though. There's a reason they have been trending upwards, primarily due to player development. They are slowly building a winning culture and a foundation to build off of. That's going to go a long way in the progression of their current young core. But whether that in itself will be enough to eventually make a playoff run remains to be seen.