Portland Trail Blazers: 3 players who likely won’t be back next season
By Ty Delbridge
The Portland Trail Blazers came into 2020-2021 with high expectations but only finished the regular season with a record of 42-30 and the sixth seed in the playoffs. The Blazers had a favorable matchup with the fourth seed Denver Nuggets who were missing some key players with injuries. Portland was not able to capitalize and lost the series in six games.
The Blazers are likely to move on from their head coach Terry Stotts, who has been with the team for nine seasons. Stotts has been a great coach for this organization and should be recognized as one of the all-time great Blazers coaches.
For the fifth time in eight years, the Portland Trail Blazers did not advance past the first round in the playoffs and may look to move on from a few players this summer
But it may be time for him to move on as he has not been able to get this team over the hump, and his message in the locker room has probably gotten stale. There were already reports about him being on the hot seat (Athletic paywall), and losing in the first round isn’t going to help that.
The same goes with the president of basketball operations, Neil Olshey, who has been in charge for the last nine years. He has had a very good run in Portland but just hasn’t put together a legitimate contender with his moves to build this team. It’s time for a new voice in the locker room and the front office.
If the Blazers do move on from Stotts and Olshey, that probably means we will see some changes to the roster as new people in the front office take control and shift the team towards their vision. Whether it be trades or guys leaving in a few agency, some players have probably played their final game in a Portland jersey. Let’s take a look at who some of those guys could be.