Trail Blazers Position Preview: Shooting Guard

Exploring Portland's two-guard depth ahead of the 2024-25 season.

Jan 7, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe (17) controls the ball against Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas (24) during the second quarter at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports / Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The 2024-25 Portland Trail Blazers have a variety of options at shooting guard heading into this season, although everyone is fairly raw and developing.

Let's unpack what their expected depth looks like at the position, in what looks to be another season that's all about development.

Read More: Trail Blazers 2024 Position Preview: Point Guard

Projected Starting Shooting Guard: Shaedon Sharpe

Sharpe is expected to assume the starting two-guard role, while former starting shooting guard Anfernee Simons is set to become the club's starting point guard. The 6-foot-6 Kentucky product saw a massive uptick in his production during the 2023-24 season. He logged encouraging averages of 15.9 points while shooting .406/.333/.824, 5.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 0.9 steals a night.

Projected Top Reserve Shooting Guard: Matisse Thybulle

A two-time All-Defensive Teamer while with the Philadelphia 76ers, Thybulle has had a rough run of it since arriving in Portland midway through the 2022-23 season. After starting all 22 of his games that first season, he assumed a bench role in 2023-24. Across 65 healthy contests last year, he averaged a scant 5.4 points on a rough .397/.346/.759 shooting line, 2.1 rebounds, 1.7 steals, 1.4 assists and 0.8 rejections a night. Thybulle's jump shooting is such a problem — and head coach Chauncey Billups clearly did not value his defensive contributions enough — that the team opted not to risk playing him starter's minutes.

Still, Thybulle — who can play at either the shooting guard or small forward position — is one of the team's few plus wing defenders, along with starting power forward Jerami Grant. Like Grant, Thybulle is a possibly too well-compensated veteran who could eventually be used as a trade chip.

Projected Third Shooting Guard: Rayan Rupert

Drafted with the No. 43 pick in 2023, Rupert could be in line for increased minutes. In 39 games with Portland last year (12 starts), he averaged 4.0 points on a .335/.359/.760 slash line, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per bout. In six regular season games for the Trail Blazers' NBAGL affiliate, the Rip City Remix, he averaged 12.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 0.8 steals a night.

Other Options

There's a possibility that Anfernee Simons, who again is now expected to be slotted down to the team's starting point guard role, can play some minutes at the two-spot in combination with his own backup point guard, Scoot Henderson.

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