Damian Lillard speaks during the Portland Trail Blazers Media Day at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Sept. 28, 2026.
Eli Imadali / OPB
The Portland Trail Blazers enter this season with one of the league’s more perplexing roster questions: how will three ball-dominant players gel?
That’s returning All-Star wing Deni Avdija, all-time franchise leading scorer Damian Lillard returning from an Achilles rupture, and off-season acquisition Ja Morant. Morant was an All-NBA talent in his own right before injuries and off-court issues derailed his recent seasons.
Blazers players, however, don’t see an issue.
“I think the balance will work itself out, just based on what we’re all capable of,” said Lillard, who missed all of last season recovering from injury. “But if our mentality is right, and we handle it right … I think we can be a tough time for everybody.”
Players, first-time head coach Micah Nori and team officials spoke to media on Monday at the Moda Center, giving local press and fans a look at the various storylines that are weaving into the start of the season. The team’s first practice is Tuesday.
How the team will juggle ball-handling duties was among the most persistent questions. So, too, was whether ongoing negotiations between the team and the city of Portland could seep into the locker room. Most players seemed ambivalent about the municipal politics of it all.
Team officials acknowledged that there are questions about offense. In addition to the trio of playmakers who will vie for touches, fourth-year Scoot Henderson and Swiss-army knife Jrue Holiday can also be expected to pick up point guard duties.
The team’s outside shooting, as General Manager Joe Cronin said, is “TBD.” Outside of Lillard, who can go supernova from distance, there are very few outside shooters at the top of the roster. Last year’s squad ranked 28th in the NBA in three-point makes.
Morant made hay as a rim-wrecking guard who could jump over just about any defender. He’s a career 31% three-point shooter, well below league average. For Morant, the team gave up forward Kris Murray and 37%-three-point-shooter Jerami Grant.
Morant’s driving style also resembles Avdija’s. The 6’8” forward’s ability to get into the paint and create contact helped win him his first All-Star appearance last season. Cronin said his trade for Morant wasn’t made with concern for complementing the existing roster.
“I’m sure there will be questions, you know, around fit and position and all those different things, but we’re very focused and will continue to be on talent and adding to our talent base as much as we can,” Cronin said.
Cronin added that he hoped to see “internal development” from current players to hone their shotmaking.
Morant said he’s already played some with his new teammates and they’ve encouraged him to be aggressive. He played off the ball a lot growing up, he said, and wants to be willing to take on whatever role he’s asked to do.
“Everybody’s very unselfish and I think we’re the only team right now who probably is getting questioned about this,” Morant said. “But there’s a lot of teams probably wishing they had this many ball-handlers.”
Morant is 27 years old and five seasons removed from arguably his best campaign in 2022, when he finished seventh in league MVP voting. He spoke warmly about his career as the cornerstone of the Memphis Grizzlies for much of his career and was optimistic about playing with veteran leaders in Lillard and Holiday.
In Portland, Morant said he hopes to get a fresh start. The end of his tenure in Memphis was marred by suspensions and fines largely related to his off-court behavior, including an altercation with a 17-year-old and an incident in which he flashed a gun at a club while livestreaming on Instagram.
“I’m pretty sure everybody in here probably still judge me off that some, but, yeah, now I get to start over,” Morant said.
The team hopes the additions of Morant and Lillard will buoy the offense without sacrificing much on defense.
The Blazers eked out a playoff berth last season — its first since 2020-21 — thanks to a disruptive defense. Nori touted how the Blazers terrorized opponents’ offense since last year’s All-Star break, led in part by wings Toumani Camara and Holiday and third-year center Donovan Clingan.
Clingan, alongside the recently re-signed Robert Williams III, can give the team a sturdy presence in the paint for 48 minutes, Nori said.
“Everybody wants to talk about us being small on the perimeter, so we’ll have some ways to combat that,” Nori said. He joked about spurring Avdija to play as good of defense for the Blazers as he did in his first seasons with the Washington Wizards.
Avdija, meanwhile, is almost guaranteed to see his ball-handling duties decline. He acknowledged he’ll play more without the ball but hopes he can turn into a slashing threat in the lane.
“I’ll have more open shots and more straight line drives,” Avdija said. He said the additions of Lillard and Morant makes the team “dangerous.”
“Hopefully we can make another deep run into the post-season,” Avdija said.
