Blazers Have a Scoot Henderson Problem

After being the third overall pick in 2023, the Blazers might have a problem with Scoot Henderson.

Dec 15, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Scoot Henderson (G) watches on between plays in the first half during a game during a game against the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-Imagn Images / Allan Henry-Imagn Images

The Portland Trail Blazers have not been good for the last half-decade or so. Ever since the Blazers made the Western Conference Finals in 2018-2019, they have only gone backward. There is no one left on the roster from that playoff run as they have tried to rebuild.

A big part of that rebuild was supposed to be Scoot Henderson. Henderson was seen as either the second or third-best prospect in the 2023 NBA Draft, depending on who you talked to. He ended up getting taken by the Blazers third overall and was instantly seen as someone who could turn the franchise around.

Henderson is a physical specimen, standing at 6'3 and 202 pounds. He's very fast and is very hard to stop when he's going downhill. The Blazers thought that they had a fantastic player that they could build around and restart the franchise with them.

Instead, Henderson has been a disaster two years into his career. This season, he's averaging just 10.8 points per game on an ugly 40 percent shooting. He's shooting a ghastly 28 percent from three and has a true shooting percentage of just 49.5 percent. His stats are somehow worse than they were as a rookie.

Henderson played 62 games as a rookie because of some injury problems. He averaged 14 points, 5.4 assists, and 3.1 rebounds per game on 38.5 percent shooting. He also shot 32.5 percent from deep. As you can see, every stat is down across the board from when he was a rookie.

It has been so bad that the Blazers can't start him. It was widely expected that Henderson would be part of the starting backcourt with Shaedon Sharpe. Portland was expected then to explore the trade market for Anfernee Simons to see what they might get back for him.

Instead, they might need to consider looking at what they can get for Henderson. His confidence shooting from the outside looks like it's gone. Teams are just sagging off of him and forcing him to either shoot from three or pass it to someone else. That's not what they want to see from their third overall pick.

Henderson needs to start showing some improvement quickly. Otherwise, the calls will be growing for the Trail Blazers to look at what they can get for him on the trade market. He's not a bust yet, but he seems to be trending that way a year and a half into his career.

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