The Portland Trail Blazers have made the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons, the longest active streak in the NBA, but it seems like the streak is going to be coming to an end.
Currently, 25-34, the 10-seed in the Western Conference, the Trail Blazers’ chances of making the playoffs are slim at this point. They still have a chance to make the play-in tournament, but it does appear that they are alright with the idea of “tanking” the rest of the season.
Damian Lillard has only played in a total of 29 games this season after undergoing abdominal surgery and after trading CJ McCollum, Norman Powell, and Robert Covington at the trade deadline, the Trail Blazers are rebuilding for future success.
On Wednesday, the team announced that starting center Jusuf Nurkic will also be sidelined due to left foot plantar fasciitis, which could lead him to miss the rest of the season and potentially create speculation about if he has played his final game in a Portland Trail Blazers’ uniform since the Bosnian big man is set to become an unrestricted free agent in the offseason.
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The 2021-22 season has been a mess for the Trail Blazers for all of the wrong reasons and now, they will enter the offseason with the goal of trying to get Damian Lillard as much help as possible in mind.
Signing Anfernee Simons to a big contract extension is the first order of business Portland will take care of, but they will also be searching for ways to add more star-like talent to their roster around Dame.
They will enter the offseason with a little more than $100 million on their payroll, opening up the possibility of adding another max-contract-like talent to their roster.
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Joe Ingles and Jusuf Nurkic are both on expiring contracts and they will most likely waive Eric Bledsoe, only having to pay $3.9 million due to his partially-guaranteed clause for the 2022-23 season.
Portland will have plenty of ways to play around with their roster in the offseason and try to once again construct it into a contending force in the Western Conference. Assuming Damian Lillard will once again be a part of the equation for the Blazers, they could look to target one of the following players in the offseason to get their All-Star the help he needs.
