Last Updated on May 22, 2026 11:19 am by Mike Passador | Published: May 22, 2026

Considering the season got started with the coach getting arrested by the FBI, things turned out a lot better than expected.

How’d It Go?

Portland’s big summertime move was to trade for Jrue Holiday, bolstering a guard rotation that was already sporting Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe. The hope was that Portland could build off the improved play they showed down the stretch last season and benefit from further development from the likes of Henderson, Sharpe, Donovan Clingan, Toumani Camara and Deni Avdija. Unfortunately the plans went a bit off the rails in training camp when Henderson suffered a hamstring tear that would knock him out for 51 games. But wait — it would get worse!

The Blazers got caught up in a pretty serious scandal when Chauncey Billups was arrested in connection with an FBI probe into rigged poker games, mafia dealings and prop bets. The team had nothing to do with it but watching your coach — who just signed an extension — get walked out in handcuffs is certainly not the way you want to start the season.

Tiago Splitter was thrust into the head coach gig on no notice and forced into a tough situation, as guard injuries would be an ongoing theme all season. Beyond Henderson’s hamstring issue, Holiday suffered a calf strain in the midst of a great start and missed 27 games of his own. When Henderson returned, Sharpe got hurt and missed basically the rest of the season. In the meantime, it was a lot of patchwork with Avdija carrying the heaviest workload.

Avdija turned in an All-Star season as Portland’s do-it-all option, and while more ball-handling work for him led to increased turnovers and a simplified offense in general, fantasy GMs reaped the rewards of Avdija having control over the squad. Jerami Grant was also able to embrace a new role and continued to get buckets as he bounced between the bench and the starting five, as the Blazers were able to avoid any awkward situation with a high-paid player being asked to take a step back.

Clingan was excellent as a pillar in the paint and proved capable of handling true starter-level minutes in a breakout season. Robert Williams stayed healthy and was a great complement off the bench. The Blazers even got reasonable contributions from two-way contract players Sidy Cissoko and Caleb Love when they were called upon. It wasn’t always pretty — the Blazers were six games under .500 at the end of December and five games under at the start of February — but they fought back to the Play-In, and just about everyone in the rotation had their moment to contribute. Given the coaching fiasco at the start of the season, the Blazers were able to stick together and work their way through lots of adversity.

The quality of the bottom of the Western Conference helped the Blazers lock in a Play-In spot, but they get all the credit for beating Phoenix to earn the No. 7 spot in the playoff bracket. A matchup vs. Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs was far too much to handle — Clingan, Sharpe, Grant and Henderson in particular found some real tough sledding — but it was a good learning experience for all involved. The Blazers have more things to build on and better knowledge of how these pieces fit together.

The one complicating factor is new owner Tom Dundon, whose… fiscal responsibility, let’s say… has already made waves for all the wrong reasons.

Coaching

While Chauncey Billups had a pretty spotty coaching record, the Blazers gave him a multi-year extension at the end of last season rather than have him go into the final year of his contract without any security. The Blazers’ improvement down the stretch that year was considered as a point in his favor, with the team finally taking shape after a hasty and unwanted rebuild in the wake of Damian Lillard’s abrupt departure. It may not have been a great long-term move but you could see the logic, with improvement getting rewarded.

The Blazers lost on opening night, and head coach Billups was arrested the next day. He was arrested and charged after an FBI investigation revealed schemes involving rigged poker games and illegal prop bets, as well as conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Not exactly ideal circumstances for Tiago Splitter to get his shot at a head coaching gig, but those are the breaks.

The fact that Splitter was already part of the program likely helped everyone move on quickly and the Blazers, behind a wave of new talent, finished with their most wins since 2020-21. They improved offensively, largely as a result of Avdija’s star turn and ability to get free points at the line, though improved guard play (when available) was also a catalyst for team-wide gains. Splitter taking over after a full training camp meant that the team was basically running the same stuff given the lack of time available to install anything new. The offense was relatively straightfoward and quick-hitting, which helped Avdija generate a career year. Rather than run anything too intricate, the Blazers were generally allowed to attack on any openings created by initial actions. While that kept a younger team from banging its head against the wall over and over, it was also easier for opponents to react to and stifle — the Blazers were last in turnover rate and bled points off those miscues. Avdija in particular committed a ton of extra turnovers as a primary ball-handler, but the Blazers took the good with the bad.

If you’re grading Splitter on his first turn in the big chair, he would have to pass. Above all else, ee stepped into an unprecedented situation and got the team into the postseason. Is it enough to justify another chance? That remains to be seen. Portland’s offense, while functional in fits and starts, left a little to be desired. It has already been reported that the Blazers won’t be retaining Splitter, though it has also been reported that the Blazers’ offers to prospective candidates are shockingly, if not comically, low. It feels like Splitter will benefit from this opportunity but might need more seasoning as an assistant before becoming a full-time head coach somewhere else in the league.

The Players

Deni Avdija

SF, Portland Trail Blazers

ADP: 51.1 / 66.6 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 38/73 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 35/78 (8/9-cat)

Avdija picked up where he left off in 2024-25 — and then some. He set new career-highs with 24.2 points, 6.7 assists, 0.6 blocks and 1.9 3-pointers per game as well as a .802 conversion rate at the free throw line, and while 3.8 turnovers was a tough development, it was not the end of the world considering Avdija jumped up over seven points and nearly three assists per game. It felt like Avdija was playing on an incline, leaning on a relentless downhill driving game to earn looks at the rim or free points at the charity stripe. His gains were not just a factor of increased playing time either, as Avdija showed a more polished game and was diligent about forcing the action and inviting contact. The free throw impact was huge and Avdija’s ability to earn trips to the line was a significant development for both the Blazers and fantasy GMs.

Despite Portland’s glut of guards, Avdija was asked with handling the ball and initiating the play quite often. Portland deployed more of a quick-strike offense that empowered Avdija to attack space the moment he saw it, and while it proved to be quiet effective for him as a fantasy value it did put the Blazers in a bind against a great defensive team in the playoffs. Avdija’s 3-point shooting was another problem area but for the most part, his production in the role he was given was far past reasonable expectations. Fantasy GMs won’t love the turnovers but everything else was terrific and the Blazers can continue to build around Avdija as a 6’8″ wing who is part go-to scorer, part lead distributor. It’s a great place from which to start.

Donovan Clingan

C, Portland Trail Blazers

ADP: 84.6 / 121.6 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 30/20 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 60/36 (8/9-cat)

It was a brilliant sophomore effort from Clingan, who blossomed in a full-time starting role and set career-highs across the box score outside of field goal percentage. We were a little worried that any improvement was already baked into Clingan’s ADP, to say nothing of the outcome if he couldn’t handle a starting workload given his lack of footspeed, but the big man ended up being a smashing success for fantasy GMs. A red-hot start to the season looked like a little bit of a mirage as he went 20-for-22 on free throws over the first 15 games, but everything else caught up as his FT% predictably dipped to punt-worthy levels (and Clingan gained over a round of value in punt-FT% builds, too). That Clingan’s blocks barely moved despite the gain in playing time is a bit of a letdown but he more than made up for it elsewhere. Even better, Clingan hit the jets in the second half with top-25 value after the All-Star break — and was top-10 in punt-FT% scoring.

While Clingan’s fantasy season was outstanding, some of our preseason concerns did show themselves in Portland’s playoff run. In his defense, a matchup with Victor Wembanyama is a tough sell for anyone, let alone a second-year center on the slower side, but Clingan was outplayed by Robert Williams and saw his minutes cut drastically while shooting .304 from the field (and he took five 3-point attempts per game, a frankly ridiculous number). He was unable to contribute enough to stay on the court against an elite team and was a non-factor at the rim on either end of the floor. Wemby matchup aside, players of Clingan’s profile tend to have those problems, and it’s not shocking that the more athletic option ended up getting more playing time. The good news? Those are not significant problems in the regular season. Clingan’s playoff-style shortcomings do not detract from the work he was able to put up during the full campaign and fantasy managers should be thrilled with the season he turned in.

Jrue Holiday

PG, Portland Trail Blazers

ADP: 109.8 / 125.3 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 114/149 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 73/108 (8/9-cat)

Holiday was an invaluable part of some great Celtics teams but Boston was determined to clean up the cap last summer, sending one of the game’s elite two-way guards to a Blazers team that already had Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe entrenched. The Celtics asked so little of Holiday that there was real reason to wonder if he was out of gas completely or extremely comfortable in a low-usage role. Either way, Holiday would steady the rudder for a young Portland squad and provide a little defensive conscience, similar to what he was doing in Boston albeit with a little more importance behind his work. He was expected to be a veteran mentor of sorts but Henderson’s hamstring injury removed any threat of a move to the bench, and Holiday posted his most points and assists since 2022-23 while hitting a career-high 2.6 triples per game. It took less than a week for Holiday to reassert himself for fantasy managers; he had seven, 11 and seven assists through his first three games with double-digit scoring in each. In Holiday’s final season with the Celtics he only had five streaks of three straight games of double-digit points; he also had just one game of double-digit assists and only five 20-point games. The Blazers needed a little vintage Holiday and he delivered with aplomb.

A right calf strain that knocked him out for 27 games to end a hot start that saw Holiday produce top-40 value, but at the end of the campaign that was the only blemish on his record. He hit some speed bumps after returning from the injury but settled into a key starting role as Henderson and Sharpe were basically never healthy at the same time. Holiday was a top-70/125 guy after the All-Star break and while he could never get back to those early highs, this was still a great return to form after a few years where Holiday was only a borderline 12-team option for a loaded Celtics team. Welcome back, Must-Start Jrue Holiday.

Toumani Camara

SF, Portland Trail Blazers

ADP: 107.8 / 123.1 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 59/63 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 125/134 (8/9-cat)

This is just a sneak peek of the Season Wrap. The entire roster is covered, as well as the Fantasy Star, Letdown, One to Watch and One Burning Question for this team. You’ll need to have an Ethos 360, All-Sport or NBA FantasyPass membership. Click here to learn more and sign up! Premium Access Required

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Mike Passador

Mike graduated from Boston University’s Dual Degree Program with a BA in Economics and a BS in Business with Concentrations in Marketing and Operations Management. He is a faithful supporter of Toronto sports and the Detroit Lions and is always ready to be let down. Tweet to him @Mike_Pandador, but if you badmouth Jose Calderon you might get blocked.

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