The Portland Trail Blazers gained some clarity on their young core with their playoff series loss to the San Antonio Spurs. However, that's not the case for Shaedon Sharpe, who was largely a non-factor throughout the series.
Sharpe had a career season, finishing as Portland's second-leading scorer at 20.8 points per game. To say that didn't translate into the postseason would be an understatement, as his numbers declined to just 7.2 points in 13.4 minutes per game.
It was a catch-22 situation where Sharpe couldn't find an offensive rhythm in those surprisingly limited stretches, but Tiago Splitter couldn't trust him to produce in a playoff setting.
It's unfortunate timing, considering Portland just invested in Sharpe prior to the season with a four-year, $90 million extension. Despite that commitment, the Blazers must seriously ask themselves after this series whether Sharpe is part of their long-term plans.
Brutal postseason complicates Shaedon Sharpe's future in Portland
It gets even more complex when you factor in Sharpe's injury. He returned from a calf injury with just two games remaining in the regular season, which didn't give him enough time to fully return to form. Had Sharpe had time to hit the ground running heading into the postseason, maybe this would be a different conversation.
We know how desperately Portland needed his offensive production. In Games 3 and 4, they blew second-half leads because their offense stalled. Part of that is a testament to Sharpe's value on this Blazers roster, as he's one of the lone shot creators. At the same time, it's hard to envision where exactly he fits into this roster vision going forward.
Despite the positional size and top-tier athleticism, he's still extremely limited on the defensive end. Offensively, his scoring is misleading when it comes to his overall impact, as he doesn't provide much elsewhere.
Having Sharpe around as a one-dimensional player isn't necessarily a bad thing, as that's still a reasonable contract for that outcome. He could even turn out to be a valuable sixth man on whatever the final iteration of this roster looks like.
But if that is indeed the case, then he also shouldn't be considered off-limits heading into what is a pivotal offseason.
Blazers should consider trading Shaedon Sharpe this summer
There are talks of Portland potentially making an offseason splash under new owner Tom Dundon. Making Sharpe available could present the most viable pathway to make that blockbuster trade a reality.
Then again, it's that same star ceiling that appeals to teams in trade talks for why Portland may be reluctant to part ways with a 22-year-old who possesses arguably the highest upside on the entire roster.
It's a lot for Portland to sort out. To make matters worse, it was a highly inconsistent series for Scoot Henderson and a poor outing overall for Donovan Clingan. None of Portland's former lottery picks showed up in the series, but at least they have more information regarding what Henderson and Clingan actually bring to the table.
Sharpe wasn't even playable in the series, whether due to injury or Splitter's own choosing. We'd like to give Sharpe the benefit of the doubt and lean towards the former, but we've also seen this team bench him throughout the rebuild and be better off because of it -- that was the case with Chauncey Billups' controversial decision that ultimately catalyzed their end-of-season push to be in the play-in conversation last year.
All things considered, deciding what to do with Sharpe this summer is well above our pay grade. But it's going to be the defining decision of the Blazers' offseason, and perhaps even their entire rebuild.
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