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  Ramona ShelburneOct 30, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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  • Senior writer for ESPN.com
  • Spent seven years at the Los Angeles Daily News

FOR A FEW hours last Thursday, it was a relatively normal morning for Jrue Holiday and his Portland Trail Blazers teammates.

Most of them had turned their phones off hoping to sleep in after a late-night season-opening loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The biggest issue Holiday faced was whether his kids would let him sleep past 8 a.m.

But when morning came and he checked his phone, he knew nothing about this season was going to be normal again. For any of them.

His coach, Chauncey Billups, the Hall of Fame player who had been guiding Portland through its rebuild the past five seasons, was in federal custody. Billups had been arrested by the FBI in a predawn raid in connection with a federal probe into rigged poker games and was implicated in a separate probe into illegal gambling on NBA games.

The news was everywhere.

Holiday didn’t have a long history with Billups, but he thought he knew his coach well enough.

Two years ago, after Holiday had been traded to Portland from the Milwaukee Bucks in a blockbuster deal for Damian Lillard, Billups had called to tell him that he would love to have Holiday as a veteran leader on the team as it began its rebuild. But he also wanted to know where Holiday’s head and heart were, too. Holiday had won a championship with the Bucks in 2021 and at 33, was still a deeply impactful player.

Holiday told Billups he preferred to be on a contending team, and the Blazers worked with him and his representatives to find a trade (ultimately to the Boston Celtics) that worked for both sides. The Blazers got back promising young center Robert Williams III, Malcolm Brogdon and two first-round draft picks. The Celtics got Holiday, who proved critical to their championship run in 2024.

“Chauncey really did me a solid the first time I was traded here, just being able to see things through my lens and ask me what I wanted,” Holiday told ESPN. “Not many coaches would do that. But he understood because he was also a player in this league.”

Billups, Rozier among 34 arrested by FBI

Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones were arrested as part of a pair of wide-ranging investigations related to illegal sports betting and rigged poker games backed by the Mafia, authorities announced.

• FAQ: What we know about the cases
• Leaguewide reaction: Players, coaches weigh in
• Timeline: Sports betting scandals since 2018
• Wetzel: True cost of sports betting
• Greenberg: How FBI says poker games were rigged

This summer, circumstances had changed. The Celtics were looking to shed salary and retool, while superstar forward Jayson Tatum was out with a torn Achilles’ tendon. And the Blazers were looking to add veterans such as Holiday, who could help elevate their young core of Deni Avdija, Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson, Toumani Camara and Donovan Clingan.

They had also signed Billups to a multiyear contract extension in April.

After just 117 wins in his first four seasons, the team believed its coach, and his roster, could make the turn.

This time, the conversation with Billups went differently.

Holiday told his new coach he was excited about the trade and moving his family across the country to play for him. Billups came over to Holiday’s new house a handful of times to make sure he was comfortable.

“We talked all the time,” Holiday said. “A little bit of basketball. A lot of life.”

In no world could Holiday see Billups’ arrest coming. In no way could he picture Billups being involved in what he has been accused of.

It’s a line that has been whispered across all levels of the NBA this past week, from the Blazers’ locker room to opposing coaches and players, from people merely in Billups’ orbit to those in his inner circle. The man portrayed in the FBI indictment is not the man they thought they knew.

“Honestly,” Holiday said, “we were shocked.”

AS HOLIDAY SPOKE to reporters after the Trail Blazers’ 139-119 win over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night, his teammate, Matisse Thybulle, listened and nodded along.

He liked the way Holiday described interim coach Tiago Splitter as “stoic” and that Splitter had the right “demeanor” to step into the still stunning void Billups’ departure had created.

Splitter and general manager Joe Cronin had addressed the team Thursday afternoon after the news broke to relay whatever details and instructions they could.

They didn’t know much more than the players did at that point.

The most salient detail they told the players was simply a mandate: that it wasn’t appropriate to contact Billups, who had been arraigned and released on bail Thursday afternoon.

“Everyone thinks we might know more than everyone else,” Thybulle said. “But it’s like Twitter is telling us just as much as anyone else.”

Thybulle says he and Billups talked every day, sometimes multiple times a day. But it was more than that.

“Chauncey just believed in me,” the veteran wing said.

And, in turn, Thybulle wants to believe in Billups now despite the accusations.

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He has not read the 22-page indictment documenting Billups’ alleged involvement in rigged poker games associated with the Mafia. Or the 23-page indictment documenting Billups’ alleged involvement in illegal gambling, leaking information about his own team to gamblers who then profited off their bets.

“Let’s not mince words,” said FBI director Kash Patel at a news conference last Thursday announcing the charges. “This is the insider trading saga for the NBA. That’s what this is.”

Back in Portland, Thybulle said that amid the turmoil, he, like the rest of his teammates, is trying to remain focused on his day job.

“It’s not really something I want to get too lost in,” he said. “Hopefully things can work themselves out and we find out sooner rather than later. But try not to let it occupy too much of your mind and emotional space.”

Still, there will be a physical reminder of this uncertainty every time the team steps foot in their home locker room. The door to Billups’ office, near the entrance, was closed Friday night. No yellow police tape. No signs. Just a closed wooden door with cold, white walls surrounding it, with no promise of it reopening anytime soon.

When he was the head coach, that door was never closed. He was always available, in person or on the phone. But now they can’t call him. Or check how he is doing. Or get advice on how to manage a massive scandal that has enveloped the league.

That door is now closed.

Before Friday’s game, Holiday and Lillard gathered the team inside the theater room in the practice facility for an impromptu meeting, multiple team sources said. They wanted to send a message to their young team.

Lillard’s was simple:

Stay together. No matter what happens. Or how much you might be worried about Billups or his family. Stay together. Because other teams aren’t going to feel sorry for us.

The questions inside the Blazers’ locker room and across the NBA center around the same theme: How do we reconcile the man we thought we knew — and a man the federal government believes is a criminal? Cameron Browne/NBAE via Getty Images

ONE PERSON WHO did get through to Billups was his former coach in Detroit, Hall of Famer Larry Brown. He has texted him almost every day since Thursday, he says, to let him know he cared and was thinking about him.

Another is LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, Billups’ best friend. Sunday night in Los Angeles was supposed to be a reunion for Billups and Lue. The two men have been close since they were teenagers playing on AAU teams in the late 1990s. Lue was a scrappy point guard for the Kansas City Blue. Billups was an All-American for the Oakland Soldiers. They got even closer in college when Lue went to Nebraska and Billups starred for Colorado. Lue would come stay with Billups in the summers and they would play every day.

After their playing careers were over, Lue even helped spark Billups’ desire to start coaching.

“It’s hard to process,” Lue said before the game, later adding, “I believe in Chauncey’s character. I know who he is as a person. I’ve been with him since I was 17 years old. So, it’s just hard to see something like this happen.”

Brown, for his part, is struggling to believe it, too.

“He would be one of the last people I would think about involving himself with bad people,” Brown told ESPN. “If you talked to anybody that was involved with Chauncey, that spent time with him and knew his family, knew his kids, I think they’d be saying the same thing.”

It’s a circular refrain dominating conversations inside the Blazers’ locker room and across the league — the difficulty of reconciling a man so many considered to be a colleague, a friend, a coach, and the man the federal government presents as a criminal.

Why would a Hall of Famer risk his reputation, not to mention millions and millions of dollars in current and future salary, to play in allegedly rigged poker games and leak information to gamblers?

How could he even know the mobsters who are alleged to have run these games?

How could he get involved in something like this?

Could this just be a misunderstanding?

Did I truly know him as well as I thought I did?

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Investigators make clear they believe Billups provided nonpublic information to gamblers in one indictment. In the second, they allege he was not only aware that the poker games he was participating in were rigged, but that he helped organize them, deceiving unknowing participants whom investigators refer to as “fish.”

Billups is named in the indictment as “a member of the cheating team.” And in one particularly detailed section, investigators produce text messages between a 40-year-old Queens, New York, woman with deep ties in the music, entertainment and sports world named Sophia “Pookie” Wei and a 67-year-old man with ties to the Gambino crime family, Robert Stroud, in which they discussed the need to lose purposefully on occasion to avoid suspicion of cheating.

Billups and another member of the cheating team, 53-year-old Eric “Spook” Earnest, had each apparently put a bad beat on the same wealthy fish.

Wei suggested that they bring another member of the cheating team over to the table and have “Chauncey and/ spook lose to him.” Stroud agreed with the idea, to which Wei responded in text, “They already know all the signals.”

The “they” in Wei’s text message refers to Billups and Earnest, meaning investigators believe Billups was not just the famous athlete at the table brought in to draw wealthy players to the game, but a member of the cheating team who knew the signals they used to cheat, and followed them to defraud victims.

“The thing that scares me for Chauncey is that he’s dealing with these mob guys,” one close associate of Billups told ESPN. “If this is true, if he set people up. … It could get nasty.”

The text messages were pulled from Stroud’s iCloud account and included in the indictment. Investigators did not, however, include any direct text messages from Billups corroborating Wei’s assertions. Nor did they specify what the $50,000 payment they have bank records showing he received from Wei after he participated in a rigged poker game in October 2020 was for.

Billups’ attorney Chris Heywood provided a statement to ESPN’s Shams Charania, which made clear that Billups will challenge the accusations.

“Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows he is a man of integrity; men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others,” Heywood said. “To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his hall-of-fame legacy, his reputation, and his freedom. He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game.”

Billups’ next court date is Nov. 24 in Brooklyn, New York. Since he was released on bail last Thursday, he has been home with his family or interviewing attorneys to be part of his defense team.

He has been placed on indefinite leave by the Blazers.

Billups was released from federal custody Thursday afternoon. He was placed on indefinite leave from the Blazers shortly thereafter. AP Photo/Jenny Kane

THE SHOCK OFthe arrests left the NBA world reeling and looking for answers.

Were Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Damon Jones the only people with NBA ties who are implicated in the probes? Or could the list grow longer?

Asked by Amazon’s Cassidy Hubbarth about his reaction to the federal investigations and arrests, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he was “deeply disturbed.”

“There’s nothing more important to the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition, so I had a pit in my stomach. It was very upsetting.”

On Monday, the league sent a memo to all 30 teams, outlining the “dire risks that gambling can impose upon their careers and livelihoods.”

Billups is only mentioned by name in the rigged poker investigation. However, he matches the description of a former player and current coach who allegedly provided nonpublic information to gamblers who then used that information to wager.

But they weren’t just any gamblers. They were the same men he had allegedly collaborated with in the rigged poker games three years earlier. Investigators allege that Billups gave that nonpublic information before the game to Earnest, the same 53-year-old St. Louis man he allegedly lost hands on purpose with in the October 2020 poker game so as not to arouse suspicion.

All of this has shocked people who thought they were close to him.

“I didn’t even know he was a gambler,” the close associate said.

After Earnest received the information from Billups, he allegedly then told a 40-year-old sports betting guru from Las Vegas, Shane Hennen, the same man who the indictment says provided technology for the cheating team to use in the rigged poker games. Court records indicate that Hennen was arrested in January at Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport, trying to flee the country on a one-way ticket to Colombia.

Hennen was also a central figure in the case of former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter last year, meaning that two of the biggest illegal gambling cases in recent NBA history are connected.

Hennen and another man then placed $100,000 on the game for which Billups had allegedly leaked nonpublic information.

The game described in these allegations, on March 24, 2023, was a rather meaningless contest between the Chicago Bulls, who were battling for 10th place and a spot in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament, and the Trail Blazers, who were steadily falling in the Western Conference standings despite some epic scoring performances by Lillard down the stretch.

It also set the stage for one of the most painful chapters in franchise history.

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Two nights earlier, Lillard had scored 30 in Portland’s win over the Utah Jazz, leaving the Blazers with the sixth-worst record in the league, but still just 3.5 games out of 10th place with nine games left to play.

Lillard was listed as probable to play against the Bulls with right calf tightness as of the 4:30 p.m. PT injury report. On the 6:30 p.m. injury report — just 30 minutes before the game — he was switched to out along with four other starters. The betting lines moved dramatically throughout the day, from the Bulls being favored by just 2.5 points in the morning to 7.5 by tipoff.

The bets cashed. The Blazers lost 124-96.

The story in The Oregonian the next morning said that the Trail Blazers had “essentially waved the white flag on the 2022-23 season by sitting Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic, with Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant already out and while facing a very winnable game at home against the Chicago Bulls.”

After the game, Billups was asked about the position the team was in, tanking the final 10 games of the season to improve lottery positioning for a second season in a row.

“Unfortunately, it is familiar,” he said. “It’s not the best, it’s not the greatest, but it is what it is. Whoever is available, I’m going to coach them.”

One day later, Charania — then with The Athletic — reported that the Blazers were “leaning toward shutting down” Lillard for the final nine games with the calf injury. Four days later on March 28, Chris Haynes, then of Turner Sports, reported Lillard would be held out for the remainder of the season.

This was a disappointment to Lillard, sources said. While that calf injury had bothered him at various points throughout the season, he did not like the idea of surrendering while he was still in the prime of his career.

Lillard had been exceptional that season, but especially so in the second half. Over his prior 20 games, he had averaged 36 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds. He had a 71-point game against the Rockets, a 60-point game against the Jazz. In nine of them, he had scored more than 40.

He was voted as a third-team All-NBA selection, despite playing just 53 games.

After the season, Lillard affirmed his commitment and desire to stay in Portland, but he wanted the team to do whatever it could — including trading what ended up being the No. 3 pick in the draft — to improve the team.

When Portland did not find a trade it liked and, instead, took guard Scoot Henderson at No. 3 — one spot ahead of the type of defensive-minded but still developing wing Amen Thompson that the Blazers had been seeking to pair with Lillard — he finally started to consider asking the franchise to trade him.

That process was uncomfortable. And it took months to resolve. Lillard hoped to be routed to the Heat to play with Jimmy Butler III and Bam Adebayo, while the Blazers dug in and vowed to wait for the best return.

In late September 2023, they found it. Lillard was sent to the Bucks in a three-team deal that returned the Blazers Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Camara and future draft picks.

The departure was unceremonious and sad. But Lillard never moved his children from Portland to Milwaukee. So when the opportunity to return presented itself this summer, after the Bucks waived and stretched the final two years and $113 million on his contract to clear enough salary cap space to sign free agent center Myles Turner, Cronin and Billups were quick to reach out to Lillard to see if they could all build a bridge back.

It was as surprising as it was tantalizing — a foundational icon returning to the franchise he had built, at the exact moment they were set to begin a resurgence.

“It never felt right seeing Damian in a different jersey,” Cronin said at the news conference in September, welcoming Lillard back. “[We’re] just really thankful to Damian for trusting in us, for believing in us, and for coming back.”

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Shams: Billups, Rozier will not be paid while on leave

Shams Charania reports that Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Heat guard Terry Rozier will not be paid while on leave.

THE REUNION WITH Lillard was just one of the pleasant stories the Trail Blazers brought with them into this season, even though he’s expected to miss the entirety of it with a torn Achilles.

Avdija had been a revelation in the second half of the season, following a trade from the Washington Wizards. Camara, a late second-round pick who was something of a throw-in to the Lillard trade, had developed into an All-Defensive Team player. Sharpe, the former lottery pick, seemed poised for a leap in his fourth year after an excellent preseason.

Earlier this year, Billups had recruited Splitter — fresh off coaching Paris Basketball to a French Cup championship — to help speed up and modernize the team’s offense.

Instead, Splitter ended up taking over for Billups as the Blazers interim head coach.

Splitter, 40, had played against Billups during his own playing career. But they had really only known each other in the few months since he joined the Blazers staff. Now he was being asked to lead Billups’ team in the wake of a scandal with no imminent resolution.

There was no way to prepare and not nearly enough time. He called his former coaches with the Spurs, Gregg Popovich and Brett Brown. He showed up at the training facility and told the team he was there for them but said the best way they all could deal with the emotions of the moment was to channel them into the one thing they could control: the game.

During the past few seasons, as the Blazers lost Lillard and continued to miss the playoffs, the crowd often booed Billups during pregame introductions.

Splitter’s first game Friday night was very different. It was Latin American Heritage night, so the pregame introductions were all in Spanish — a nice unintentional touch for Splitter, a Brazilian native who speaks fluent Spanish from his time playing in Spain.

“Y Tiago Splitter es el director tecnico de los Trail Blaaaaaazers!”

The crowd roared with approval. And when Splitter delivered a win in his first game as an NBA head coach, the crowd and the players wanted to make sure it was celebrated properly.

Holiday and others hatched a plan. Each player would fill a cup with ice water. After Splitter addressed the team in the postgame locker room and brought the team in for a huddle, they would nail him.

“First win under these circumstances,” Holiday said. “It’s a great thing. We waited until he got in the middle of everybody, so he couldn’t get away.

“We still have to go on, so that’s what we do.”

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  Ramona ShelburneOct 24, 2025, 11:35 PM ET

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  • Senior writer for ESPN.com
  • Spent seven years at the Los Angeles Daily News

PORTLAND, Ore. — It will be a long time before the Portland Trail Blazers can process the predawn arrest Thursday of coach Chauncey Billups in a federal investigation related to rigged poker games allegedly backed by the Mafia.

But the process of moving forward began Friday as they played their first game under interim coach Tiago Splitter, and the Blazers beat the Golden State Warriors 139-119 at the Moda Center.

“Honestly, it is a tough moment,” said Splitter, a former player for the San Antonio Spurs whose only head coaching experience before Friday was in the Euro League with Paris Basketball last season. “I mean, we all had great experience with Chauncey, and we are thinking of him and his family. But we have a job to do, and we have to move forward.”

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Splitter and Blazers general manager Joe Cronin addressed the team Thursday afternoon, hours after Billups’ stunning arrest. Neither had slept more than a few hours when news of the arrest started spreading. Splitter told ESPN that he went to bed around 2 a.m. after watching tape of the Blazers’ season-opening loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves and was woken up shortly after 6 a.m. when the news started to circulate.

A few hours later, Splitter was in Cronin’s office, being asked to take over as interim coach. Lead assistant coach Nate Bjorkgren had previous head coaching experience, but team sources said Bjorkgren had told Cronin that Splitter was the best choice to take over, and Bjorkgren felt he could best help the team in his current role, running the defense.

Billups had recruited Splitter away from a head coaching role with Paris Basketball over the summer to help revamp the Blazers’ offense, and he had been implementing changes over the past few months.

This kind of promotion, under these circumstances, was less than ideal.

“I have to be ready,” Splitter said. “I was ready, I am ready.”

Blazers interim coach Tiago Splitter said his team was focused on moving forward after Chauncey Billups’ arrest Thursday. Photo by Tom Hauck/Getty images

Warriors coach Steve Kerr didn’t know Splitter well, but their paths and circles have many intersections.

“I met with him in Paris last year during the Olympics,” Kerr said. “David Kahn, the owner [of Paris Basketball], texted me and asked if I would meet with Tiago. We spent some time together. Had a great visit. Then, he was wildly successful, winning the French league, getting rave reviews. David told me what an amazing coach he thought he was. He said he thought he’d be an NBA head coach someday. Nobody wants it to be under these circumstances. But there’s a reason Tiago is here. He’s a talented guy.”

After Friday night’s game, Kerr praised the Blazers for their victory.

“I would be embarrassed to sit here and blame fatigue when a team just came out and took it to us. It was about them and their great play,” Kerr said. “This city is going to really enjoy watching the Blazers. They play hard. They have a real identity. They’re doing a really good job of rebuilding the franchise after the long run with Terry [Stotts] and Dame [Lillard] and CJ [McCollum]. It’s been a rough couple of years, but they’ve used that time wisely and built a really good roster.”

Beating the Warriors — even a tired version of the Warriors on the second night of a back-to-back set — was as good a start and palate cleanser as Splitter and the Blazers could have hoped for after Billups’ arrest and arraignment Thursday.

Deni Avdija led Portland with 26 points, shooting 11 of 18 from the floor. Jerami Grant added 22 points off the bench, and all five Blazers starters scored in double figures. Portland shot 54% from the field and hit 16 of 34 3-pointers (47%).

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The Portland Trail Blazers have reached a four-year, $90 million rookie extension with guard Shaedon Sharpe and a four-year, $82 million extension with forward Toumani Camara, their agents told ESPN on Sunday.

Agents Mike George of Klutch Sports, who represents Sharpe, and Dave Putterie, who represents Camara, told ESPN of the extensions.

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Sharpe, 22, was the No. 7 pick in the 2022 NBA draft and is seen around the league as an ascending scorer and playmaker. In his third NBA season, he averaged 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 72 games.

A hyperathletic wing, Sharpe shot north of 75% within 3 feet of the basket and racked up 65 dunks, and he had the highest average jump height among players to make at least 50 dunks, per GeniusIQ. He struggled with efficiency farther away from the rim but has shown a willingness to fire away from deep regardless (6.6 3-point attempts per game last season).

His seven career games with at least 30 points is the most by any Trail Blazers player before turning 22 years old.

Camara, an NBA All-Defensive second-team selection, averaged 11.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists on 45.8% shooting last season. He also drew 91 offensive fouls last season, which was the second most in a season since player tracking began in 2013-14.

He has blossomed into a vital and durable two-way player after being picked No. 52 by the Phoenix Suns in the 2023 NBA draft. The Trail Blazers acquired him from the Suns in the three-team trade that involved Damian Lillard going to the Milwaukee Bucks and Deandre Ayton going to Portland along with Camara.

With the extension, the Blazers now lock in Camara through the 2029-30 season following a campaign in which the 6-foot-7 forward ranked ninth in total steals among NBA players and became one of seven players with 100 steals and 50 blocks in a season.

He was the first Trail Blazers player to make an All-Defensive team since the 2003-04 season, when Theo Ratliff, who was acquired via trade from the Atlanta Hawks that season, also was a second-team selection.

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The Portland Trail Blazers have committed to one of their young pieces for the long term.

Per ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Blazers signed Shaedon Sharpe to a four-year, $90 million extension. Sharpe’s rookie deal was set to expire after the 2025-26 campaign.

The deal comes after Portland signed Toumani Camara to a four-year, $82 million deal on Sunday.

The extension for Sharpe comes after the best season of the 22-year-old’s career. The former seventh overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft put up 18.5 points per game, which was the second-most on the team behind Anfernee Simons, who is now with the Boston Celtics.

Sharpe has established himself as a capable scorer, and being just 22 means he still has plenty of room to develop his game further.

The Blazers have been in rebuilding mode for the last four seasons, but are starting to put together a strong young core with some valuable veterans also in the fold. Portland’s presumed starting lineup will feature Sharpe, Camara, Deni Avdija and Donovan Clingan, all of whom are 25 years old or younger. Jrue Holiday, who joined the Blazers in the Simons trade, will likely be the starter at point guard.

Portland also has Scoot Henderson, who is looking to put together a breakout year this season, though he will be out to start the season because of a torn left hamstring.

The Blazers weren’t too limited financially, as they had $7.9 million in first apron space and $19.8 million in second apron space before the two deals on Sunday. Now, they’ve secured two vital pieces to their rebuild in Sharpe and Camara, and they’ll look to get closer to being a championship-caliber team in 2025-26.

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Shaedon Sharpe has agreed to a four-year, $90 million extension of his rookie-scale contract with the Trail Blazers, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania — a move that keeps the hyper-athletic young swingman in Portland through the end of the decade, and that represents a vote of confidence that the seventh overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft can be a player of consequence for the next competitive iteration of the Blazers.

The new deal for Sharpe comes on the heels of extensions in Portland for general manager Joe Cronin and head coach Chauncey Billups after the 2024-25 NBA season. The Blazers finished 36-46 — their fourth straight sub-.500 season following the firing of longtime former head coach Terry Stotts. They improved dramatically over the course of the campaign, though, bouncing back from a 9-20 start to go 27-26 after Christmas. Portland posted the Westâ€s eighth-best record and net rating after Feb. 1, fueled by a defense that allowed fewer points per possession over its final 34 games than any team outside of Golden State, Oklahoma City, Orlando and Boston — all playoff teams (and, in the Thunder, the eventual NBA champions).

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While correlation isnâ€t causation, it seems notable that the Blazers†significant defensive uptick began in earnest when Sharpe moved from the starting lineup to the bench mid-season. After a 22-point beatdown by the Rockets stretched their losing streak to five games, the Blazers ranked 28th in the NBA in defensive efficiency. Billups sent Sharpe to the bench, explicitly calling out his shortcomings on the defensive end of the floor.

“We need to be better defensively. … He’s struggled a little bit,†Billups said, according to Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report. “As a head coach, as I’m trying to build and develop these guys, I don’t believe in playing on one side of the ball. I just can’t allow that. I can’t have that on my watch. Shae has to get better. I’ve seen him be so good so many different times, but he’s just struggled a little bit. And when he struggles, there needs to be consequences for that.â€

[Get more Trail Blazers news: Portland team feed]

Over the next six weeks, the Blazers went 13-5 with the leagueâ€s second-best defense — setting a template for an identity shift that continued this summer when Portland plucked ace defensive veteran Jrue Holiday from the fire-selling Celtics. Sharpe, for his part, responded to the demotion well, continuing to score well in a reserve role and maintaining his offensive potency after a late-season return to the starting five, averaging 21.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 35.2 minutes per game down the stretch.

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That sort of up-and-down season produced something of a conundrum for Portlandâ€s braintrust as Sharpe became eligible for an extension this summer. If the Blazers want to be a defense-first team, built around sturdy wings Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara and backstopped by 2024 lottery pick Donovan Clingan at center, and they have an eye on improving their collective long-range game — 19th in made 3-pointers per game, 26th in team 3-point accuracy — then would it make sense to throw the proverbial bag at a career 33% 3-point shooter that they had to bench for defensive malfeasance?

On the other hand: For an organization thatâ€s been searching for its next foundational star since before trading Damian Lillard, and thatâ€s still searching even with Dame now back in the building, might Sharpe be the best bet they can make at the moment? And might making it now — rather than letting Sharpe play out the season and enter a restricted free agency market where, unlike this frigid summer, more teams might have the financial flexibility with which to toss him an offer sheet if heâ€s coming off a breakout run — actually be the more prudent course of action? (Especially with extension decisions on the likes of Avdija and former No. 3 overall pick Scoot Henderson fast approaching.)

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All told, Sharpe averaged 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 31.3 minutes per game on .551 true shooting in his third professional campaign. The list of players to produce like that by their age-21 season includes only 26 other names; 24 of the 26 went on to become All-Stars, and Magic forward Franz Wagner was on pace to make it 25 last season, if not for a torn oblique muscle. (Weâ€ll keep a candle lit for you, John Collins.)

Thatâ€s not to say that Sharpe will wind up blossoming into a LeBron/Luka/KD/Tatum/SGA-level top-flight perimeter superstar. But when youâ€re talking about a 6-foot-5 wing with a near-7-foot wingspan and nuclear athleticism, whoâ€s still playing catch-up a bit after skipping college ball entirely, and whose development curve already compares favorably to where several somewhat similarly styled players were at the same age, you can understand a team deeming it reasonable to ante up, paying for the right to see if that kind of blossoming does happen — and to be able to reap the benefits if it does.

Thatâ€s the path the Blazers took, agreeing to terms that will carry Sharpe through his mid-20s, the anticipated upswing toward his athletic prime. Theyâ€re betting that Sharpe — who has reportedly turned heads in training camp — will continue his upward trajectory, taking the kind of leap that will solidify him as not only one of the most exciting young perimeter talents in the NBA, but as a bona fide cornerstone of the core theyâ€re building in Portland.

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“Shaedon, man — I think everybody knows the talent that he is and what he can do, but that boy can hoop,†the veteran Holiday recently told reporters when asked who had stood out to him in camp. “When you go up against him in practice, first-hand, every single day — heâ€s got it.â€

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With the 2025-26 NBA season set to tip off this week, the Portland Trail Blazers are locking up one of their most promising players. Blazers forward Toumani Camara has agreed to a four-year, $82 million extension to stay with the team, his agent told ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Camara, who was drafted in the second round of the 2023 NBA Draft, has grown into a bigger role for Portland across his first two seasons. The Belgium-born forward started in 77 games for the Blazers last season and was named as a member of the NBA All-Defensive second team.

Camara’s rookie season came to an early end after he suffered a rib fracture and kidney laceration in March 2024. But he returned to full form last year, averaging 32 minutes per game and only missing five games during the season.

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Camara averaged 11.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game in the 2024-25 season. But his defensive strength has been a major boost for Portland, as the 6-7 forward picked up 116 steals — the ninth-most in the NBA — and 50 blocks last year.

The Trail Blazers will kick off the regular season by hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday. It’s unclear if Camara, who has been day-to-day with a knee injury, will get the start. The Blazers also reportedly signed guard Shaedon Sharpe to a four-year, $90 million contract extension on Sunday.

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Jonathan Kuminga didnâ€t make it to the second half of Tuesday nightâ€s preseason game.

The Golden State forward was thrown out of a 118-111 Warriors victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in the final moments of the second quarter after he made contact with an official while arguing for a call. That led to an immediate technical foul and ejection.

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Kuminga was driving to the rim at the Moda Center trying to get a bucket to fall before the buzzer, though he missed the layup after thinking that he drew contact in the middle of the lane. As play went the other way to wrap up the quarter, Kuminga got into the official’s face and made contact with him — which will lead to an ejection every time.

Kuminga had 7 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in 18 minutes when he left.

Tuesdayâ€s outing was Kumingaâ€s third this preseason, and came just weeks after he landed a new two-year, $48.5 million deal to return to the franchise after months of uncertainty. Kuminga and the Warriors had been in a contract dispute throughout the offseason that frequently felt like it was going nowhere. The new deal now means that Kuminga will be eligible to be traded in January, which is something that is reportedly likely to be explored at a minimum.

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Kuminga, who the Warriors took with the No. 7 overall pick in 2021, averaged 15.3 points and 4.6 rebounds while shooting 30.5% from behind the arc last season. The 23-year-old missed significant time last season due to an ankle injury he went down with in January, but he returned in time for the postseason.

The Trail Blazers took a five-point lead into the locker room at halftime, but the Warriors surged ahead in the fourth quarter to grab the seven-point win. Stephen Curry dropped 28 points while shooting 4-of-11 from the 3-point line, and Quinten Post added 16 points off the bench.

All five of the Trail Blazers’ starters hit double figures in the loss. Shaedon Sharpe led the way with 18 points after he shot 7-of-16 from the field. Donovan Clingan added 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Deni Avdija finished with 15 points.

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The Warriors have one game left, Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, in their preseason slate. They will open the regular season on Oct. 21 against the Los Angeles Lakers.

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The 2025-26 NBA season is here! Over the next few weeks, we’re examining the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and win projections for all 30 franchises — from the still-rebuilding teams to the true title contenders.

2024-25 finish

• Record: 36-46 (tied for 11th in the West, missed playoffs)

Offseason moves

• Additions: Jrue Holiday, Damian Lillard, Yang Hansen

• Subtractions: Deandre Ayton, Anfernee Simons

(Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

The Big Question: Is Scoot Henderson a star?

The Blazers have talent. Maybe not a boatload of it. But they have talent.

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They traded 26-year-old 20-point scorer Anfernee Simons for veteran Jrue Holiday, a two-time All-Star and maybe the best defensive guard of his generation, who they will pair with Scoot Henderson, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2023 draft, in their backcourt. Donovan Clingan looks like a legit center prospect. Jerami Grant is another veteran on the wing, where Deni Avdija is good and Toumani Camara is an All-Defensive performer. They bring Shaedon Sharpe off the bench. It is a team built for a superstar.

The question, then: Can Henderson be that guy? He suffered a hamstring tear during an offseason workout, which will prevent him from taking the floor for four to eight weeks, so any answers will have to wait. There was a brief moment in time — before we all thought better of it — that we mentioned Henderson in the same breath as Victor Wembanyama among the top prospects in their draft class. We thought that highly of the teenager with an NBA body. He is 21 years old now, entering his third season, still with plenty of time to find his footing in the league, but the time to step forward as a star is this season.

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The Blazers need to know if Henderson is that guy, because if he is not, this has all been for naught. Finding superstars is the name of the game in the NBA, like it or not, and Portland took its bite at the apple in 2023, continuing to put pieces around him that could ensure he turns into a superstar. They have built with his success at top of mind. So, if he is not that guy, they have to go in search of Him again.

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Henderson becomes eligible for an extension to his rookie contract at the end of this season. That is when the fun part of rebuilding ends and the financial aspect rears its ugly head. Someone is going to believe in Henderson enough to pay him, whether that is in Portland, where he could be a rising star, or elsewhere, where he may be an ongoing project. Decisions must be made. And this season is an audition.

It is all set up for him. The Blazers are in desperate need of an alpha who can carry the scoring and playmaking load on any given night, and that is precisely what Henderson was sold to us as. He has Holiday at his side. Damian Lillard, the prodigal son who returned to Portland, where he will spend this season rehabbing, will be in his ear, as will Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, the Hall of Fame point guard. This is backcourt royalty, all of whom should have Henderson’s success among their best interests.

Henderson’s performance to date has left plenty to be desired. He is consistently inconsistent to put it kindly. He has averaged 13.3 points a game over his first two seasons on below-average 40/34/79 shooting splits, committing 2.7 turnovers to his 5.1 assists. Maybe he will come up with a steal on defense. Henderson’s latest injury is certainly an obstacle in his way of finding the level of consistency he needs.

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This is not what you want from your recent No. 3 overall pick — a prize in his draft — but there are enough signs of stardom to leave us tantalized. There were his 39 points in a mid-January start against the Brooklyn Nets. He posted a 21-5-11 off the bench against the Houston Rockets’ vaunted defense two games later. He dropped 30 points off the bench in an overtime loss to the New York Knicks in March.

The Blazers still believe in him. We should still believe in him. Whether or not we should believe in him as a 35-to-1 long shot to win the league’s Most Improved Player award this season is another matter entirely. How close he comes to that will determine how competitive the Blazers are in the Western Conference.

Best-case scenario

Henderson is the star the Blazers need him to be. Avdija, Clingan and Sharpe develop alongside him. Yang Hansen does, indeed, show flashes of his promise as the “Chinese Jokic.” Holiday is a stabilizing force. Maybe he and Grant fetch something on the trade market. Either way, Portland has its young core and enjoys its rise, which may include the pursuit of a play-in tournament berth.

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If everything falls apart

Henderson is not a prospect Portland prefers to build around. (Oh, man, what a killer that would be.) And there is the very real possibility that his pairing with Sharpe is one that can never yield high-end results. What, then, do the Blazers do? That they would have to figure out. Tank back to the bottom, where they can score another superstar prospect, or continue to build from the NBA’s lower middle quadrant. Neither is much fun.

2025-26 schedule

• Season opener: Oct. 22 vs. Minnesota

The West is legit. Once you start listing teams, it is hard to imagine the Blazers staying in the playoff hunt, and outside of that 35 wins will be hard to come by, even if they won 36 last season. Going under.

More season previews

East: Atlanta Hawks • Boston Celtics • Brooklyn Nets • Charlotte Hornets • Chicago Bulls • Cleveland Cavaliers • Detroit Pistons • Indiana Pacers • Miami Heat • Milwaukee Bucks • New York Knicks • Orlando Magic • Philadelphia 76ers • Toronto Raptors • Washington Wizards

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West: Dallas Mavericks • Denver Nuggets • Golden State Warriors • Houston Rockets • Los Angeles Clippers • Los Angeles Lakers • Memphis Grizzlies • Minnesota Timberwolves • New Orleans Pelicans • Oklahoma City Thunder • Phoenix Suns • Portland Trail Blazers • Sacramento Kings • San Antonio Spurs • Utah Jazz

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With the 2025-26 NBA season around the corner, Portland Trail Blazers point guard Scoot Henderson will be missing time to start the year. The team announced Friday that Henderson suffered a left hamstring tear during an offseason workout.

As a result of the injury, Henderson will be out 4-8 weeks. The team says Henderson can return to basketball activities in that time, though an exact timeline for his return is unclear.

Portland begins preseason Oct. 8 with a matchup against the Golden State Warriors. The Trail Blazers’ season opener is set for Oct. 22, as the team hosts the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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Henderson, who was drafted No. 3 overall by Portland in 2023, was set to start his third season with the team. The 21-year-old point guard averaged 12.7 points, three rebounds and 5.1 assists per game last season, leading the team in assists per game.

Henderson was likely to come off the bench this season behind veteran point guard Jrue Holiday, an offseason acquisition for the Trail Blazers. With Henderson out, Dalano Banton will likely get more time off the bench behind Holiday.

Henderson is the latest NBA player to suffer an injury during the offseason. Philadelphia 76ers guard Jared McCain’s injury woes continued after tearing a ligament in his thumb Thursday. Houston Rockets guard Fred VanVleet suffered a season-ending ACL tear during a team workout in the Bahamas, with the veteran guard successfully undergoing surgery.

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The Portland Trail Blazers franchise will be sold to a group led by Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon. The price of…