Trail Blazers Media Day: On-Court Optimism vs. The New Reality of the Tom Dundon Era

📍PORTLAND, Ore. — This is the story of the Trail Blazers in 2026, at every turn.

The basketball is, at the very least, fun and intriguing and could be pretty good. And it all feels secondary.

Monday's annual media-day proceedings, ahead of Tuesday's first practice of training camp, was better attended than it usually is in Portland. Most of the local TV stations had hard-news reporters at Moda Center in addition to their sports staffs, and ESPN sent one of their most high-profile national NBA reporters up here.

Was any of that because, a year after re-signing in Portland and spending all of last season recovering from a torn Achilles, all-time franchise leading scorer Damian Lillard is weeks away from playing in a Blazers uniform once again?

Was it because of the arrival of Ja Morant and all the intrigue surrounding one of the would-be faces of the NBA from earlier this decade looking for a career reset?

Or was the added attention and coverage brought on by president of business operations Dewayne Hankins speaking on the record for the first time since the week the franchise sale closed in April, a rare opportunity to ask one of the organization's higher-ups about the ongoing lease negotiations with the city and the over-the-top cost-cutting practices of the new ownership group?

Take one guess.