Trail Blazers News: Portland Making Strange Offseason Decisions for Good Reason?

It's been a weird summer in Rip City.

Nov 3, 2023; Portland, Oregon, USA; The Portland Trail Blazers logo at center court before a game against the Memphis Grizzlies at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports / Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

The Portland Trail Blazers got rid of one of their best players (2023 Sixth Man of the Year combo guard Malcolm Brogdon) in exchange for an intriguing young piece (23-year-old small forward Deni Avdija) to better match the timeline of their youth movement, ditched three of their four picks in this year's draft, and burned the one remaining pick on a center, 7-foot-2 former University of Connecticut Huskies big man Donovan Clingan with the No. 7 selection, when they already have an abundance of options at that position rostered, including two pricey vets in Deandre Ayton (slated to earn $34 million in 2024-25) and the rarely-healthy Robert Williams III ($12.4 million), plus second-year five Duop Reath, who enjoyed a standout rookie run last year.

So, what exactly is Portland doing, following a miserable 21-61 run in 2023-24, and three straight seasons of lottery-bound trouble under head coach Chauncey Billups?

To hear one of the great modern NBA experts tell it, they're tanking. Hard.

During a new episode of his podcast "The Lowe Post," ESPN's Zach Lowe posited that the Trail Blazers fully intended to once again "be bad by design ahead of a loaded 2025 draft."

Incoming Duke freshman Cooper Flagg, expected to be the No. 1 pick next summer, impressed scouts, reporters and some of the league's best players while suiting up for the USA Select Team, essentially a practice squad, against Team USA during its Paris Olympics preparations recently.

"If excitement for Flagg was at a 10 out of 10 last month, his performance on the USA Select Team elevated it to 14 out of 10," Lowe noted.

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