The Portland Trail Blazers will have an array of choices before them when they select 11th in the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday evening. In the latest edition of his substack [subscription required], NBA writer Jake Fischer speculates that Portland’s choices will boil down to a pair of point guards with international roots.
Fischer writes:
I believe Portland is going to select Egor Demin or Kasparas Jakucionis. I must add that the Trail Blazers have been one of the black boxes in the late lottery —difficult for teams, in other words, to crack for a read — and I’ve also heard the Pacific Northwest (as well as Toronto) as a potential landing spot for Noa Essengue. Rival front offices are indeed projecting Portland to take a guard or wing player like Arizona’s Carter Bryant because of its overloaded frontcourt.
So...the Blazers take Demin or Juakucionis. Or Essengue. Or Bryant. Because their frontcourt is overloaded. Even though they now have two point guards in Jrue Holiday and Scoot Henderson, the latter of whom they drafted with the third overall pick in 2023. And they have Shaedon Sharpe and Deni Avdija as wings, maybe Toumani Camara too. And Jerami Grant and Deandre Ayton, their theoretical starting frontcourt, has generally been underperforming.
Got it.