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Portland’s late surge shifted the momentum for good. The 31-year-old center explained that giving away extra possessions is dangerous against modern NBA offenses, especially with teams shooting so heavily from deep. “The league is so talented that you cannot give the other team so many possessions,” he stressed. At 3–3 to start the 2026–27 NBA Regular Season, Jokic was asked about the team’s new identity. “I think when we’re playing good, it’s really good, and when we’re playing bad, it’s really bad,” he observed. “We cannot find consistency.”
Oh No He Didn't: Damian Lillard on his time with the Bucks: "Doing something outside of Portland, playing with a great player like Giannis, I think that was a luxury that I hadn't experienced, playing with somebody that's gonna show up, he's gonna compete. So that was like fun for me. I could just feel that it wasn't my home"
“At some point the rubber has got to hit the road. I honestly wonder if its going to be Scoot Henderson more so than Jrue Holiday,” said Jake Fischer on SiriusXM radio. “Joe Cronin identified Jrue coming back to Portland and I think is pretty proud of that kind of, we sneak in stealthily while the Celtics were dismantling their 2024 title team and got this guy Jrue.”
Duane Rankin: Jordan Ott as Suns look to respond from 41-point loss in opener at Portland. Face Golden State in home opener Saturday: "It's one game. It's unfortunate it's the first game. So it sticks with you for sure. That's not who we are. We're all wired that I think we feel uncomfortable and not happy about it. Acknowledge it, move on to the next one. Don't let it happen again. That's our approach and Saturday is our time to go out and from the jump, from the jump we were not right. Every thing we do is important including that first play of the game." #Suns #DubNation #RipCity
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Having the dazzling, high-flying Ja Morant playing down the street from Nike’s headquarters could boost the company’s comeback efforts as it works to rebuild its focus on sports. The Blazers practice and play about 12 miles from Nike’s corporate campus. “Having Ja in Portland is special,” said Ann Miller, Nike’s top sports marketing executive, in an email. “Our campus is just down the road, and now one of our signature athletes is playing in front of the community where thousands of Nike teammates live, work, and play.”
It’s why this trip to Portland carries a second emotion. As Leonard traveled to honor Lillard, he felt some unease and hesitation. He says the pit of his stomach is filled with butterflies. His heart is aflutter with anxiety. He played in Portland for the first seven of his 10 NBA seasons, and he experienced both ends of the fanatic spectrum: jeers and cheers. For most of his time in Portland, Leonard was Exhibit A of what happens when a lottery pick doesn’t turn out to be a star like Lillard: boos, vitriol, disgust. One night in Portland, he was roundly booed after a series of missed shots. In his truck after the game, he broke down. He didn’t just cry; he bawled. “I’m a people pleaser,” Leonard said, reflecting on that moment. “I love positive affirmation. I want people to like me.”
The wound from the night of boos has since healed, but it sticks with him. A scar in his belly that is tickled today by his butterflies. And the chants from Game 4 still echo in his ears. But these days, they seem faint, as if to make him question if it ever happened. Wednesday night will put a bow on his relationship with Lillard, but what eats at him is the unanswered. The loose ends. He knows what Portland means to him. But he doesn’t know what he means to Portland. Did he leave an imprint? Did he make a difference? Was he enough to be remembered? [....] He loves Portland — and he is curious if Portland loves him back. “I guess I’ve just always wondered: Did I win Portland over in the very end?” Leonard said.
Meyers Leonard arrived as a fresh-faced 20-year-old and left as a 27-year-old man. He married his wife Elle at the Oregon Golf Club in West Linn. They enjoyed all the area had to offer, from the postgame scene at Departure, meals at Bamboo Sushi, Nostrana and Lake Oswego’s Babica Hen. And the scenery of the trails of Eagle Creek and Dog Mountain. He loves Portland — and he is curious if Portland loves him back. “I guess I’ve just always wondered: Did I win Portland over in the very end?” Leonard said.
According to four sources with knowledge of the negotiations, Dundon told city officials he would only meet if they put a number on that first-class condition. Meaning, what would it cost for the Trail Blazers to settle at the end of their lease in 2030 and for the city not to pursue litigation if the franchise relocated? The city ultimately complied and put a price tag on the Trail Blazers’ future that went well beyond the roughly $600 million the Trail Blazers are seeking in public funding for the renovations. The number they landed on was upwards of $1 billion. If Dundon wants to move, it’s going to cost him. “He went crazy,” one source said of the Trail Blazers’ owner.
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Marc Stein: The Pelicans have now waived Kobe Bufkin. Bufkin was the 15th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Jeremy Sochan, waived earlier today by Portland, was the No. 9 overall pick in 2022.
As the Portland Trail Blazers and local government officials negotiate the terms of a new lease agreement to refurbish the Moda Center, the prospect of relocation has hung over the city. It is, ultimately, the largest bargaining chip the Blazers and owner Tom Dundon have and what Portland must fear most if the two sides cannot agree to terms. Negotiations on a remodel and a new lease have been rocky, but the relationship between the franchise and the city seems to have rebounded since it hit a nadir this summer. Dundon even met with city officials this week at a Blazers preseason game, as first reported by The Oregonian and confirmed by The Athletic. With a looming deadline to make a deal by the end of the year, the Blazers owner told The Athletic that keeping the franchise where it has been for 56 years remains his goal. “We are working to keep the team in Portland,” Dundon said by text message. “That is the priority.”
For about four minutes, the two stood and spoke on the baseline, most of the conversation taking place during player introductions. They were animated — hand gestures and smiles — and at times exchanged laughter. “He was saying we are trying to do something here in Portland,” Tee Morant said. “That was the whole message. He told me he met Ja, and that nobody has bad things to say. And he said he thinks (the Blazers) are building something great. His vision is championships in Portland.”
In the meantime, there is growing optimism in Portland that this unconventional trial of playing two undersized point guards — Ja Morant and Damian Lillard — can work. If Morant has a head that is on straight and a heart that is filled with good intentions, the only wildcard is whether his body can defy injuries. His coaches and teammates have seen enough in practice, and enough during his 19 minutes Wednesday, to believe he can return to the level that earned him selections to the All-Star Game in 2022 and 2023. His speed is still notable, and he has enough juke-and-jive to slalom through packed defenses. “When you look back when he was playing at a very high level, not too long ago, he was in the paint like 52 percent of the time,’’ Nori said. “And he got there tonight … it just didn’t work out for him. But the one thing we don’t want to do is tell him not to go in there. We don’t want to deter that mentality.’’
