3 Opponents we'd like to see the Trail Blazers open the 2024-25 season against

The NBA offseason is at its slowest point after the 2024 NBA Draft, free agency, and Summer League have died down. The Blazers have all 15 roster spots accounted for but remain a team to watch this summer as they could make a trade to continue their rebuild. However, the lack of moves happening around the NBA and the release of the Blazers' preseason schedule have many looking forward to the basketball games in October.

Teams that would match up well with Blazers

1. Houston Rockets

Between No. 3 overall pick Reed Sheppard, Jabari Smith Jr., Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, and others, the Houston Rockets have one of the league's most promising young cores. Sheppard was electric in Summer League and has the potential to be the Rookie of the Year if he can keep it up.

There would be multiple intriguing matchups in this game, including Sheppard-Scoot Henderson, Green-Shaedon Sharpe, and Sengun-Donovan Clingan, to see how the Blazers' up-and-coming core stacks up against the Rockets' roster.

2. Memphis Grizzlies

The Grizzlies-Blazers matchup would primarily be to see how No. 7 overall pick Clingan goes head-to-head against No. 9 overall pick Zach Edey. The two may only see anywhere from ten to twenty minutes on the court against one another, with Deandre Ayton being the Blazers' starting center. Still, regardless of the limited minutes, it would make for entertaining basketball when they are in together.

Clingan's UConn and Edey's Purdue teams played against each other in the NCAA national championship. UConn won 75-60, but Edey recorded 37 points and 10 rebounds, while Clingan had just 11 points and five rebounds. It would be a great storyline to see how the two transition to the NBA regular season games early on, but both looked great in the Summer League.

3. Utah Jazz

If there's one team in the Western Conference that the Blazers have a reasonable chance of finishing with a better record than, it's the Utah Jazz, who finished with a 31-51 record last season. The other two teams in the West that finished with worse records (besides the Blazers)—the Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs—both made significant roster upgrades and should be much improved next season, leaving the Jazz and Blazers as the likely bottom feeders in the West.

It would be a good test for Portland's first game and give them an immediate gauge of how they stack up. The real question may be whether either team wants to win this game. The answer is yes for now, but that could change if they meet up later in the regular season when the playoffs are out of sight and the tank for a top 2025 draft pick is on.