Which Trail Blazers Will Play in Summer League and the Paris Olympics?
Which Trail Blazers Will Play in Summer League and the Paris Olympics?
Forecasting Blazers players' offseason plans.
Beyond whatever Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin does with the roster, it’s going to be a busy summer for the players that are currently in Portland.
Between Summer League in Las Vegas in mid-July and the Summer Olympics in Paris in early August, most of the team has something on the books. A lot can change between now and then, but here’s an early look at what those offseason plans might be.
Las Vegas Summer League
Teams don’t typically finalize their Summer League rosters until early July, but you can usually get a pretty good idea of who will or won’t be playing in Las Vegas just from reading the tea leaves.
The headliners of the Blazers’ Summer League roster will undoubtedly be their upcoming draft picks, which could be two guys in the lottery if they use both their own pick and the Warriors’ pick. We’ll find out where those picks land after the May 12 draft lottery. They also have two second-rounders; it’s extremely unlikely they use all four picks, just from a roster-math standpoint.
Out of the Blazers’ current players, the biggest question will be whether or not Scoot Henderson plays—and if he does, how much.
At his exit interview earlier this month, Henderson said he wants to go to Summer League, which isn’t too surprising. Last year, on the heels of being the No. 3 overall pick, he made his Summer League debut and was outstanding in the first half of his first game, putting up 15 points, five rebounds and six assists in 21 minutes against Houston. But he suffered a shoulder injury in that game and missed the rest of the tournament.
Coming off an extremely uneven rookie season, Henderson could use a do-over. If nothing else, it would be good for him to prove to himself and everyone else that he’s outgrown Summer League. When organizations let players going into their second year play in the event, especially high lottery picks, the hope is usually that they play one or two games, dominate against rookies and fringe camp-invite hopefuls and shut it down. If Henderson can do that, it will go a long way to calm some of the talk about his future after struggling for a lot of his first year in the NBA.
Beyond Henderson’s status, at least a couple of the Blazers’ other rookies will be there. Rayan Rupert absolutely needs it. He’s still very raw as a prospect and spent considerable time in the G League with the Rip City Remix during his rookie year. Playing at Summer League will be a good opportunity for the organization to see his progress in a consistent environment. Rupert looked completely lost last July; one would think this time he’ll be more comfortable.
Kris Murray could go either way. He improved significantly over the course of his rookie year and started later in the season. There’s an argument to be made that he doesn’t really need it. There’s also a case that getting out there for at least a couple games will help his confidence, which was up and down in his rookie season. I’d lean towards him playing.
Toumani Camara probably wasn’t going to play regardless—he started for most of the season and doesn’t need the reps—but the season-ending rib and kidney injuries he suffered in late March all but confirm that. Duop Reath has “graduated” from Summer League as well, especially since his future in the league is secured after signing a three-year contract with the Blazers in February. He’ll also be busy around that time with pre-Olympics training camp with the Australian national team.
Ibou Badji will likely be back with the Blazers next season on another two-way contract, because the organization has invested a lot in his development and they’re happy with the progress he made with the Remix this past season. He’s still not all the way there to be a consistent contributor at the NBA level and will probably be spending a lot of time in the G League for the second year in a row. Playing at Summer League again is a no-brainer for him and I’d expect him to be on the team in Vegas.
I don’t know if the Blazers’ other two-way players, Ashton Hagans and Justin Minaya, factor into their long-term plans. But there’s a chance either one could be on the Summer League team—if nothing else, to showcase themselves for a camp invite somewhere.
2024 Summer Olympics in Paris
Just like Henderson’s Summer League status, the Blazers have one major point of intrigue leading up to the Olympics: whether or not Shaedon Sharpe gets a spot with the Canadian national team.
Sharpe has said in the past that he wants to represent his country but didn’t know where things stood when he was asked about it at his exit interview earlier this month. He hasn’t participated in national-team activities in the past, and a lot of times, the politics of that come into play.
For what it’s worth, my understanding is that the Blazers organization would be all for Sharpe playing in the Olympics if he got the invite, even though he’s coming off missing significant time in the back half of the season with a core muscle injury. Getting some experience playing in a high-level competitive environment like that would be good for him.
Team Canada, which won the bronze medal in last summer’s FIBA World Cup, is loaded with NBA talent in the backcourt. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, Dillon Brooks, R.J. Barrett and Andrew Nembhard will all be in the running. Bennedict Mathurin is still recovering from season-ending shoulder surgery, which could open up a spot for Sharpe, and Murray may decide to rest this summer if the Nuggets are playing into June again.
Dalano Banton may also be in the running for a spot on the Canadian team, or at least a training camp invite. He told the Toronto Star recently that he was invited to be on the team last year for the World Cup, but turned it down because he didn’t want to risk getting injured before his place on the Celtics’ roster was solidified. Following an impressive post-trade deadline run, it’s currently expected that the Blazers will pick up his $2.2 million team option for next season. Assuming that happens, the stability for next season would make it easier for Banton to accept an Olympic invite, which said at his exit interview he wants to do if given the opportunity.
Beyond the questions about what Team Canada will do with its roster, the Blazers will have some representation in Paris. Matisse Thybulle and Duop Reath are both expected to play for Australia, just like they did last summer in the World Cup.
During the first week of July, there will be qualifying games in four countries to determine the final four spots of the Olympic field out of the teams that haven’t qualified yet. The Bahamas—featuring Deandre Ayton—is one of the teams still in contention for a spot. Ayton played for the Bahamian national team last summer in a qualifying tournament. The team includes two other NBA players, Eric Gordon and Buddy Hield.
There are also murmurings that Malcolm Brogdon, whose wife’s father is Polish, could play for Poland’s national team, an idea that’s come up in the past. Like Ayton’s Bahamas, Poland is one of the countries that will be playing for one of the last Olympic spots in the qualifying games in early July. Brogdon hasn’t made a decision one way or the other yet, but it’s under consideration.
Elsewhere, there are some tangential Blazers connections. Rayan Rupert’s sister, Iliana, who plays for the Atlanta Dream, announced earlier this year that she’s taking the upcoming WNBA season off to focus on playing for the French women’s national team in the Olympics. Rayan isn’t part of France’s men’s team this cycle, but he could be in the future.
(By the way, France could be the next international basketball power in this decade: Victor Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert, projected 2024 lottery picks Alex Sarr, Zaccharie Risacher and Tidjane Salaun, standout Wizards rookie Bilal Coulibaly, Rupert, and future draft prospects Nolan Traore and Noa Essengue.)
It’s also not outside the realm of possibility that Scoot Henderson gets an invite to be on the Select team during Team USA’s training camp in Las Vegas before the Olympics. The Select team is a group of younger players that scrimmages and practices against the national team during camp, and USA Basketball uses it as a way to get the next generation of players into the pipeline where they could be considered to be on the national team in future cycles.
I haven’t heard anything one way or the other about whether Henderson is in the mix there (and, to be honest, he probably doesn’t wear the right brand of shoes), but he fits the profile of the kind of up-and-coming American player that could get a look.