As the Portland Trail Blazers are in the rebuild category, they have a medley of developing young talents. It’s also worth noting that their front office hired Mike Schmitz, one of the most popular and successful draft experts, to be their assistant general manager back in May 2022. However, every season has to come to an end sometime, and patience for Portland’s rebuild is starting to wear thin.
With all of that in mind, the Blazers face three burning questions as they head into the 2025-26 season.
3 Burning Questions For Blazers Heading Into 2025-26 Season
Shaedon Sharpe Starting?
In the four drafts that have taken place since Schmitz was brought on board, Portland has added several promising prospects. However, the inaugural pick of the Schmitz era was Canadian wing Shaedon Sharpe, who had committed to Kentucky but never played a game for the Wildcats. Fast forward to today, and Sharpe has just wrapped up his second preseason exhibition of 2025-26. In two games, he’s averaging 19.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game while shooting 51.7% from the field and 42.9% from 3. Each of those numbers represents preseason career-highs for him.
Of course, a player’s bones aren’t made in the preseason. However, people are the sum of all their moments, making it impossible to say these performances are irrelevant. That’s particularly true of a player like Sharpe, who may be their most naturally gifted player. In fact, Sharpe averaged a career-high 18.5 points per game in 2024-25. Thus, there’s no question that he’s pretty skilled, but there is a question of whether he’ll start in 2025-26. To that point, he’s started only 92 of his 184 career NBA games. He was also demoted from the starting lineup last winter due to Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups’s issues with his defense.
Ultimately, it does appear that Sharpe will enter the season as a starter. He’s done so well in training camp and preseason that he’s earning rave reviews from teammates and Billups. Not only is he playing under control and having his way on offense, he’s competing on defense and crashing the glass.
How Much Hansen Yang?
The Blazers caught a lot of people by surprise when they opted to draft Yang Hansen (note that Hansen is his first name and Yang is his family name) with the 16th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. The true draft sickos were well aware of who Yang was. In January, the 7-foot-1 center had hired Klutch Sports to represent him. Three months later, he decided to declare for the impending draft. However, he certainly wasn’t a household name, even with the growing fascination with foreign products.
No. 16 overall pick Yang Hansen shined in Portland’s preseason win tonight!
16 points
— NBA (@NBA) October 11, 2025
He really started to gather attention when his comparisons to Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic became mainstream. Of course, they’re not an exact match but there’s significant overlap in their skill sets. Like Jokic, Yang is capable of scoring from all three levels and being a precise playmaker at the offensive end. However, he also protects the rim at a high level. These abilities are now on display, with Yang shining in Summer League and catching his stride in preseason.
The real question isn’t whether Yang is as good as advertised though, it’s how much will he play in the regular season? After Portland bought former starter Deandre Ayton out of his contract, a lot of minutes opened up. However, he’ll be behind 2024 No. 7 pick Donovan Clingan on the depth chart, at least to start the season. He may also have to compete with the injury-prone but enticing Robert Williams III for minutes once he’s cleared.
Playoff Push?
Though they’re still considered to be in rebuild mode, the Blazers could push for a playoff berth in 2025-26. That may seem far-fetched given that they were just 36-46 last season. Yet, even while 10 games under .500 in the mighty Western Conference, they had a chance to reach the Play-In Tournament. This is because they were just 3.0 games behind the 10th-place Dallas Mavericks and four games behind the ninth-place Sacramento Kings, who were able to clinch a tournament berth.
Every season is different but that’s still evidence of how close Portland is to getting out of limbo.
With that being said, many of the teams that had a better record than them out West arguably got better this summer. However, the Memphis Grizzlies may have gotten worse after trading key scorer Desmond Bane. As has become their norm, they also have multiple injuries to manage. The Suns may also take a step back after replacing Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal with Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks.
Meanwhile, the Blazers may have improved internally and externally. The growth of Sharpe and Deni Avdija, the latter of whom was a breakout player in 2024-25, can’t be ignored. The addition of Jrue Holiday provides them with a necessary veteran presence and much-needed defensive-minded guard. Furthermore, though Ayton is very gifted, his motivation was often in question. Thus, replacing him with players like Clingan and Yang could actually make them more competitive.
© Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images
The post 3 Burning Questions For Blazers Heading Into 2025-26 Season appeared first on Last Word On Basketball.