The Portland Trail Blazers will enter the 2025 NBA Draft next week holding the 11th overall pick. It’s not exactly prime territory but they should be able to get an interesting player from their lower-lottery position.
Along with incessant questions about Trail Blazers management, inquiries about the draft have dominated the Blazer’s Edge Mailbag over the past few weeks. Most of them are simple, as represented here:
Dave,
If we stay at the 11th pick who would be a good pickup. I like Demin but do you think he’s too much of a risk?
Tyler
Let me start out by saying that I’m not the world’s best draft expert. I’m better at analyzing players once they’re selected than predicting selections. But we’ve had a pretty good barometer here over the years, especially when it comes to the Blazers, so we’ll give it a try.
The philosophy with any pick is to take the best player you can. That’s a little easier if you have a premium spot in the order. Lots of candidates in the first few slots are “best”. By the time you get to the 11th spot, you’re making compromises. Does best mean highest ceiling? A defined skill or two? Most NBA-ready? Few players at that level have them all. You have to choose.
I think the Blazers are still in the position of favoring the first two qualities we just listed over the final one. I’d be good if they took a swing at a high-potential player. I’d also be happy with a player exhibiting defined, valuable skills. I don’t think they need to worry about their new rookie being ready-made. If he takes a while to develop, they have that time.
With that in mind, three candidates have stood out to me for a while. I’ve looked into more, but these three names keep coming up for me.
Let’s start slightly above Portland’s level, with a guy who might drop to them. Khaman Maluach of Duke could be an exciting prospect. He’s a 7’2 center with a 7’7 wingspan. He’s a good athlete, a floor- and rim-runner. Defense is the most developed, and exciting, aspect of his game. He’ll contribute almost immediately there. Even if the rest is a work in progress, the Blazers can live with that.
Maluach would provide a nice yin-yang synergy with Donovan Clingan. Clingan is the bulky, space-eating, basket-guarding shot blocker. Maluach is the alley-oop catching, transition-defending, side-to-side coverage threat.
Getting Maluach would lessen Portland’s dependence on centers Deandre Ayton and Robert Williams III, either of whom could be traded during the season or let go next summer for cap space.
Carter Byrant, a 6’8 forward from Arizona, lives right at the Blazers’ level in the draft. He weighs 225, can make moves in the lane, and he shoots 37% from three. He’s got good sense on offense, not a ball hog. He’s also a defender. Bryant probably won’t become a star, but he’s the kind of smart-value pick that Portland is known for. I could see him adding more depth to Portland’s forward corps. Since depth is the new byword across the league, the pick makes sense.
Down the line a little is your man Egor Demin. And yeah, I’d take a flyer on him. A 6’9 playmaker with reasonable point-of-attack quickness? Stick him in there behind, or alongside, Deni Avdija and you’ve got an attack that never quits. Theoretically that would make a point guard’s job pretty easy. Or maybe the Blazers don’t need a traditional point guard quite as badly with their twin wing attack.
Demin is one of the few non-superstars with the potential to transform Portland’s offense, not just help it. It might be worth a gamble. Even more so if the Blazers can trade down to get him.
One player I don’t love who’s been linked with Portland is Maryland center Derik Queen. He’s a good offensive player. He’s also big: 6’10, 248 lbs. But he reads more of a classic power forward to me than center. Today’s forwards stretch the floor. Queen wouldn’t be able to chase them to the perimeter on defense. He’s not a great defender at all. Sure, the Blazers could play him at center behind Clingan but then they lose their defensive integrity. If they need offense from the center position—Queen’s strength—they already have Ayton. Deandre has more range, more variety, and more experience.
I see Queen getting run around on defense in the NBA and not getting enough offensive touches to make up for it. I don’t think I’d spend a lottery pick on him.
So there you go. That’s my best shot at two high-potential players for the Blazers, one who’s more ready-made but still has the right skills, and one to avoid. Unless something radical happens between now and next Wednesday, that’s what I’m heading into the draft with.
How about you? We’re a week and a day away from the Big Event. Now’s the time to get in your last campaign pleas and predictions! And if you want to send in a question of your own, the email is blazersub@gmail.com. We always try to get to as many submissions as we can!