Will Trail Blazers Pay Shaedon Sharpe Near-Max Extension Next Summer?

Has Shaedon Sharpe done enough to earn a massive extension?

One of the more important pieces to the future of the Portland Trail Blazers is the development of guard Shaedon Sharpe. Sharpe will be entering his third season in the NBA after Portland selected him with the No. 7 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.

Sharpe improved his game a lot this past season, opening the door for the Trail Blazers to start to even think about moving guard Anfernee Simons on the trade market. The young guard has two more years of club control before he will enter restricted free agency but the Trail Blazers do have to think about how they will handle his future.

Portland would likely have to make a commitment to Sharpe over $200 million to keep him around for the long haul, a standard among NBA contracts in today's era. Teams all across the NBA have been forced to hand out max-level extensions to players in order to avoid them losing talent for nothing on the open market.

The Trail Blazers could always look to trade Sharpe before an extension is reached but he seems to be part of the long-term plans. Last season, Sharpe averaged 15.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game over 32 games.

The biggest knock on Sharpe from this past season was his 3-point shooting drop. He shot 33.3 percent from beyond the 3-point line, a slight drop from his 36.0 percent in his rookie season.

For the Trail Blazers to fully commit to retaining Sharpe long-term, he will need to show them more this coming season. He has seen some highs early in his career but injuries and inefficient offense at times have hurt him.

His athleticism on both ends of the floor has the Trail Blazers excited for the upcoming year. Alongside Scoot Henderson, Sharpe is expected to be a key contributor in the backcourt for Portland.

He showed some strong defensive abilities last season and will need to hone in on those to make a true impact. Sharpe will be given the playing time needed to showcase his talent so he will have nobody to blame but himself this season if he falters.

Sharpe is on the cusp of becoming an upcoming star in the NBA but his play this season will determine it all. Portland is counting on him big time so it's put up or shut up time for the young guard.

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