Blazers Injury Report: Veteran Wing Has Knee Surgery Just Before Start of Season

Portland will now start the year without three key rotation players.

Dec 2, 2023; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Matisse Thybulle (4) helps forward Jerami Grant (9) off of the floor after hitting his head against the Utah Jazz during the second half at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images / Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Ahead of a fourth consecutive tanktastic rebuilding season, the Portland Trail Blazers are already down three key rotation players, including a starter.

Starting Trail Blazers shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe is set to return to action at some point in November as he recuperates from a shoulder injury. Reserve center Robert Williams III has missed the entire preseason as he continues to deal with a hamstring injury, though the Blazers expect him to return fairly soon.

Now, Portland has announced via its official X account that reserve shooting guard/small forward Matisse Thybulle, a two-time All-Defensive Second Teamer, has had a surgery to correct right knee inflammation and is scheduled to sit out the beginning of the 2024-25 regular season. The 6-foot-5 Washington product is set to miss three-to-four weeks, placing his return around some time in November.

Portland traded for Thybulle at the deadline of the 2022-23 season. Last year was his first full stint with the club. Across his 22.9 minutes a night, he averaged a scant 5.4 points on .397/.346/.759 shooting splits, 2.1 boards, 1.7 steals, 1.4 dimes and 0.8 rejections a night in his 65 healthy bouts (19 starts).

As Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report writes, second-year bench small forward Toumani Camara appears to be the likeliest candidate to see a major minutes uptick. In his four preseason matchups for the Trail Blazers, the 24-year-old Dayton product averaged an encouraging 13.8 points on tantalizing .421/.400/.905 shooting splits, 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists (against a somewhat ominous 2.5 turnovers) and 2.0 steals a night.

Young forwards Dalano Banton, Jabari Walker, and Kris Murray (drafted far ahead of Camara last year, but so far still a bit more of a developmental project) could all be in line for additional run, as well.

Missing out on Williams and Thybulle for any extended period of time could spell trouble for Portland long-term. Team general manager Joe Cronin is no doubt looking to trade as many of his well-compensated veterans as he can. Thybulle, 27, is owed $22.6 million across the next two seasons, and is no longer a particularly useful fit on a team looking towards the future. Though he's not much of an offensive contributor, he can still be a valuable defensive wing for a semi-contender in need of that exact kind of help like, say, the Los Angeles Lakers or Denver Nuggets.

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