Despite being 13th in the Western Conference, the Portland Trail Blazers have seen several young players make strides this season. One prospect in particular has improved leaps and bounds since the start of the season.
After a rocky start to his career, Blazers guard Scoot Henderson is finally starting to turn a corner and emerge as a good NBA player. It wasn't that long ago that he was teetering on the brink of being a draft bust, but his play over the last couple of months has resulted in a dramatic shift. Henderson has played far better of late, even leading to calls for him to start over the team's remaining 20 games.
Increasing his minutes would give him a chance to build upon his positive play over the last month of the season. Any positive development for Henderson is huge for the Blazers, who may have been concerned about his play over the first 90+ games of his career. Fortunately, his improved efficiency has increased his overall production and likely restored faith that he can develop into a star in Portland.
Since January 14 (28 games), Scoot Henderson is averaging 15.3 points, 5.2 assists and 2.2 threes in 28.0 minutes, while shooting 41.9 percent from three.
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) March 13, 2025
Scoot Henderson's dramatically improved play gives the Blazers options
The Blazers are clearly still building through the draft and can't afford to have a swing and a miss on a top three pick. Having Henderson turn into a starting-caliber point is probably the lower end of the possible outcomes when he got drafted.
Then again, he is the only player taken in the top five of his draft class that hasn't been given a chance to start consistently. At this point, it's fair to wonder if it's limiting him from developing even further.
The jury is still out on whether Henderson could emerge as a star, but his play thus far hasn't foreclosed the possibility either. He is just 21 years old, and even if he were able to play at this level over an entire year, next season, he could still be on a star track.
After all, Blazers fans can look no further than to coach Chauncey Billups. Billups didn't even get drafted until he was 21 and didn't make his first all-star team until he was age 29. However, he would make a total of five All-Star teams en route to being named a Hall of Famer.
Henderson may or may not have that ceiling, but he was widely seen as the second-best prospect in the strong 2023 NBA Draft. While he has lagged behind Victor Wembanyama and Brandon Miller, it's not unheard of for point guards to struggle. What's important is that Henderson has seemingly figured things out, and it's exciting to see where things go from here.