TUALATIN — NBA insiders touted the Portland Trail Blazers’ surplus of future draft picks, suggesting general manager Joe Cronin could dangle them in a multi-team deal for a difference-maker. Fan sites whipped Rip City diehards into a frenzy with far-fetched visions of Giannis Antetokounmpo donning a Blazers uniform.
But as the NBA trade deadline passed Thursday afternoon following a flurry of league-wide activity, Cronin stood pat, choosing to double down on his young roster and bet that improving health and continued growth would catapult the Blazers into the NBA play-in tournament.
When the smoke cleared Thursday, Cronin had made just one move, acquiring sharpshooter VítKrejčí from the Atlanta Hawks in a trade that came four days before the deadline.
For weeks, Cronin quietly had been telling team insiders that he didn’t feel pressure to make a seismic move and he backed up that sentiment during a wild 48 hours that saw the likes of Jaren Jackson Jr., James Harden, Anthony Davis, Ivica Zubac, Kristaps Porziņģis and Ayo Dosunmu switch teams around the NBA.
At the Blazers’ practice facility, there was relief among the players. Earlier in the week, Toumani Camara called the deadline “awkward,” admitting that players couldn’t help but feel “nervous about getting a random phone call” with life-changing news. On Thursday, those nerves morphed into excitement as noon passed and the Blazers shifted their focus to the final two months of the season.
“The players were joking around a little bit, (saying) ‘We’re all back,’” Blazers acting coach Tiago Splitter said. “I get it. There’s a little bit of tension. But I’m glad everybody’s back. Everybody’s happy to be here and ready to move forward and finish the season.”
The Blazers, who host the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, will move forward sporting as healthy and deep a roster as they’ve had all season.
All-Star Deni Avdija likely won’t play against the Grizzlies as he nurses a strained lower back, but Splitter said his starting forward practiced Thursday and was improving. Point guard Scoot Henderson, who has missed the entire season with a left hamstring tear, will make his season-debut against the Grizzlies. And Matisse Thybulle, who has not played since October, went through an intense post-practice workout after the deadline passed.
Blake Wesley returned this week after a 43-game absence with a right foot fracture and Krejčí made his Blazers debut Tuesday.
Splitter said every player not named Damian Lillard practiced Thursday.
“It’s almost like too many guys sometimes, like you don’t know what to do,” Splitter quipped. “But jokes aside, it was good to see everybody being part of practice, working out, getting better. We have different combinations that we can use, so that part is a relief.”
The relief comes at a perfect time, with the Blazers fighting through their worst funk of the season. Portland (23-25) has lost six in a row, its longest skid in 2025-26.
The streak has sent the Blazers tumbling into 10th place in the Western Conference standings, one-half game behind the ninth-place Los Angeles Clippers (23-27) and four games behind the eighth-place Golden State Warriors (27-24).
But the Warriors have lost Jimmy Butler to a season-ending injury and the Clippers traded Harden at the deadline. So the door is very much open, especially as the Blazers’ health improves.
“We still for sure believe in ourselves,” backup center Robert Williams III said. “We’ve got that chance to fight. … We haven’t had a completely healthy team in a while. Thankfully we’re getting there. So we’ve got to capitalize on this.”
The Blazers will face a new set of challenges, however, as Henderson and Krejčí carve out roles in the rotation, Avdija returns and Thybulle improves. There are only so many minutes to go around and players who have grown accustomed to significant minutes will see them reduced, if not eliminated, as Splitter and his assistants juggle new lineups and tinker with fresh rotations.
But Williams called it an “acceptable challenge.” And his coach concurred.
“I’m happy to have that challenge, make them produce and excel at their positions,” Splitter said. “Guys that were used to playing more minutes (are) going to play a little less. Guys that were out (are) going to start to play more minutes and produce for us. We have still like 30 games or so left. Hopefully, this is the normal for us from now on.”