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Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2026 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Portland Trail Blazers.

Free agent signings

• Branden Carlson: One year, minimum salary. Fully guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception.
• Jeremy Sochan: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 9). Signed using minimum salary exception.

Trades

Draft picks

Two-way signings

• John Tonje
  • Two years, $91,000 partial guarantee; second year non-guaranteed.

Note: The Trail Blazers carried over Jayson Kent and Chris Youngblood on two-way contracts from 2025/26.

Departed/unsigned free agents

Other roster moves

• Signed Robert Williams to a three-year, $43,500,000 veteran contract extension that begins in 2026/27. Second year partially guaranteed ($5,000,000). Third year non-guaranteed.
• Claimed Micah Potter ($2,801,346 non-guaranteed expiring contract) off waivers from Pacers using the minimum salary exception.

Salary cap situation

Note: Figures are rounded to one decimal place.

• Operating over the cap ($165MM) and below the first tax apron ($209MM).
• Hard-capped at first apron.
• Team salary: $192.1MM (tax/apron).
• Below luxury tax line by $8.3MM; below hard cap by $16.9MM.
• Full non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($15MM) and full bi-annual exception ($5.1MM) available.
• One traded player exception available (worth $3.1MM).

The offseason so far

The Trail Blazers ended a four-year playoff drought in the spring by earning the Western Conference’s No. 7 seed in the play-in tournament, but the feat was overshadowed to some extent by reports about the cost-cutting measures new owner Tom Dundon was implementing throughout the organization and by rumors that the team was already considering candidates to replace interim head coach Tiago Splitter.

Portland’s postseason run was short-lived – the team was eliminated in five games by the eventual Western champion Spurs – but concerns about Dundon’s approach to Blazers ownership persisted throughout the offseason. Talks between the organization and the city of Portland got messy this summer, raising questions about the team’s long-term future in Oregon. Multiple reports also indicated that Dundon – who paid a below-market rate for his head coach when he took over the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes – was also unwilling to pay the going rate for the Blazers’ new coach.

An extensive search that reportedly featured more than 20 candidates ultimately resulted in the Blazers letting Splitter leave for Chicago while they hired Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori. By all accounts, Nori was a good choice. He has long been viewed as a future head coach and has been Minnesota’s top choice to fill in when Chris Finch had to miss games here and there.

Still, the structure of Nori’s contract with Portland raised some eyebrows around the league. Most NBA head coaches, even first-timers, receive at least two (and usually three) guaranteed years upon being hired, but Nori reportedly got just one guaranteed season, followed by a pair of team options. His deal is also said to feature a below-market base salary with incentives based on the club’s performance.

While Dundon himself has acknowledged that he can be frugal when it comes to off-court expenditures, he has insisted that he’ll spare no expense on the roster itself and has said he’ll be eager to take advantage of opportunities to acquire star-level talent. He and the Blazers made good on that promise by making one of the most surprising trades of the offseason in June, agreeing to acquire Ja Morant from the Grizzlies in exchange for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray.

However, the price to acquire him was relatively modest. Murray hasn’t developed into a productive rotation player during his first three seasons in the NBA, and Grant – whose own two-year, $70.6MM contract is pretty sizable – wasn’t part of the plans going forward for a Portland team that views Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara as its long-term starting forwards.

Morant looks like a curious fit on a roster that features no shortage of ball-handling guards, including fellow veterans Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard. But if he can stay healthy and recapture some of the star power that made him so fun to watch during his first few years in Memphis, the trade has intriguing upside for the Blazers.

Taking into account the head coaching search, the Moda Center drama, and the Morant trade, it would be unfair to label it a “quiet” offseason for the Blazers. But the front office didn’t make many changes to the roster outside of that one blockbuster deal with Memphis.

Veteran big man Robert Williams reached an agreement on a three-year, $43.5MM extension with the Blazers before hitting the free agent market. Only one season of that contract is fully guaranteed, which is good news for Portland, given how much trouble Williams has had staying on the court in recent years. Both sides are hoping he’s able to match or exceed the 59 regular season games he played last year, but if the injury bug strikes again, the Blazers will have some protection on the back end of that deal.

After extending Williams to complement Donovan Clingan at the five, the Blazers continued to add frontcourt depth, signing center Branden Carlson to a guaranteed minimum-salary and claiming Micah Potter and his non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract off waivers after he was cut by the Pacers. With last year’s first-round pick Yang Hansen also in the mix, Portland should have no shortage of options to match up with the West’s biggest teams and will have some insurance in the event that Williams – or another big man – has to miss time.

Up next

The Blazers currently only have 12 players on fully guaranteed standard contracts, though Vit Krejci – who is owed a small partial guarantee – seems likely to be part of the regular season roster. After that, the last two 15-man spots could be up for grabs, with players on non-guaranteed salaries competing in training camp and the preseason to make the team.

Currently, Potter and forward Jeremy Sochan are in the mix for those last two roster spots, but I’d expect Portland to bring in at least one or two more veteran free agents before camp gets underway. The team is loaded in the backcourt and in the middle but could use more forward and wing depth, which could bode well for Sochan and/or any other veteran forwards who get invited to camp.

The Blazers were said to be in on Jonathan Kuminga and reportedly offered him a higher salary than the $6.1MM he accepted from Minnesota. Portland still has $8.3MM in breathing room below the luxury tax line, giving the team the ability to take on a little money in a trade or via a free agent signing, though with Kuminga and Bennedict Mathurin off the board, the options left in free agency aren’t too enticing.

One player who might make sense as a Blazers target is Cam Whitmorewho could have a path to a rotation role in Portland behind starting forwards Avdija and Camara. Whitmore will likely have plenty of suitors interested in signing him to a two-way contract, but the Blazers are one of the few clubs that have a clear path to offering him a standard roster spot. To be clear though, this is just my speculation — there has been no concrete reporting linking Whitmore to Portland so far.

The Blazers have a handful of players eligible for contract extensions before the season begins, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if they don’t work out new deals with any of them quite yet.

The club will want to assess Morant’s fit before committing to him beyond the 2027/28 season, and Krecji didn’t perform well enough after being traded to Portland in February to warrant an offseason extension. Avdija will become extension-eligible on October 1, but Portland wouldn’t be able to offer him more than about $68.8MM over three years at this time, which won’t be enough to secure an ascendant player coming off his first All-Star season.

The most interesting extension candidate to watch is former No. 3 overall pick Scoot Hendersonwho is entering the final year of his rookie scale contract. Henderson was once viewed as a future star and was briefly mentioned early in the 2023 draft cycle alongside Victor Wembanyama as the top prospect in the class. But Henderson’s development hasn’t been as rapid as the Blazers hoped, and it was further slowed last season when he was limited to just 30 appearances due to a torn hamstring.

It’s possible the Blazers will work something out with Henderson by the October 19 deadline, but with Morant now on the roster and Lillard set to return from a torn Achilles, the 22-year-old’s role this fall is a little unclear. It wouldn’t be surprising if Portland prefers to take its chances with Henderson in restricted free agency next summer.