Here's the latest Portland Trail Blazers news for Jan. 8 after a much-needed win over the Brooklyn Nets that featured a new starting lineup now seemingly written in stone. Other headlines include two players being waived and a logical landing spot for Malcolm Brogdon if he's traded in the next four weeks.
Billups gives Blazers new starting five
Portland's starting group was worth paying attention to over the weekend. Shaedon Sharpe missed five games last month with an adductor injury, and when he returned, he came off the bench in consecutive contests while Scoot Henderson started at point guard next to Anfernee Simons.
Whether that was head coach Chauncey Billups easing his 20-year-old guard back into action or reinserting Henderson into the starting lineup for good remained a question.
That question has been answered. Scoot started again in a Jan. 5 loss to the Dallas Mavericks and kept that spot for the game in Brooklyn. Sharpe played 40 minutes in that overtime win, so it's clear Billups believes he's fully healthy.
It likely won't be the last lineup shakeup for the Blazers this year, though, with the strong focus on player development.
Skylar Mays, Ish Wainright waived
Portland let go of two depth players on Jan. 6 when it released Skylar Mays and Ish Wainright. Mays made an impression on Blazers fans at the end of last season and again early this year when he was forced into point guard duties. The former LSU standout played in 21 games this season, five of them starts, and averaged 6.3 points per game.
Wainright was claimed off waivers just before the start of the regular season but played only seven games in a Rip City jersey.
The Trail Blazers have two openings on their 15-player roster, one of which will likely go to Duop Reath.
New York Knicks a fit for Malcolm Brogdon?
When the Knicks sent guard Immanuel Quickley to the Toronto Raptors as part of the OG Anunoby trade, we speculated that Malcolm Brogdon would make sense as a replacement in New York. Yahoo's Jake Fischer sees the Knicks as a fit for the 31-year-old as well.
The Knickerbockers need another ballhandler but one that can play off of the high-usage Jalen Brunson offensively and guard the bigger, stronger guards Brunson can't.
Brogdon checks all those boxes, and the no-nonsense veteran would be welcomed with open arms by Knicks Head Coach Tom Thibodeau. The fit is too perfect for this not to become a legitimate possibility as the Feb. 8 trade deadline gets closer.
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