The Portland Trail Blazers continue their five-game road trip Saturday against the streaking Charlotte Hornets. Tip-off is scheduled for early afternoon in North Carolina, making it a rare 10 a.m. game for fans back in the Pacific Northwest.
Let’s take a closer look at the matchup.
The story for the Blazers is a familiar one. When one player returns from an injury absence, somebody always seems to take his place. But despite the injuries, the team keeps playing hard and finding ways to win.
Entering Saturday’s game, the Blazers have won six of their past nine. All-Star Deni Avdija has played just three full games during that stretch, plus a mere 59 seconds before re-aggravating his back injury in Phoenix on February 22. Avdija, who leads the team with an average of 24.4 points per game, is listed as doubtful to play against the Hornets.
Meanwhile, Shaedon Sharpe, the team’s second leading scorer (21.4 points per game), has missed the last eight games. Initially, his injury seemed minor, but the team announced that he’ll miss at least 4-6 weeks before being re-evaluated right around the time the regular season ends.
With Avdija and Sharpe out, the Blazers have gotten meaningful contributions from up and down the roster. In Thursday night’s win in Chicago, Jerami Grant led all scorers with 27 points, while Robert Williams III filled in admirably for Donovan Clingan, who missed just his fifth game of the season with an illness.
For the Blazers to beat the Hornets on Saturday, it’ll take another group effort.
The Blazers and Hornets enter the game with identical 29-31 records, but since January 22nd, when the Hornets started a nine-game winning streak, they have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA. In total, they have won 13 of their last 16 games to put themselves in the thick of the Eastern Conference play-in race.
During that stretch, they lead the league in rebounding percentage, securing 56.3% of all available rebounds, and have the NBA’s second best offensive rating, thanks to their 18.1 three-pointers per game and 40.8% three-point shooting — both league bests.
They briefly stumbled coming out of the All-Star break with back-to-back losses, but have taken care of business over the past week, blowing out the Washington Wizards, Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers by an average of nearly 25 points per game.
Portland Trail Blazers (29-31) at Charlotte Hornets (29-31) – Sun. Feb. 28th – 10:00 a.m. Pacific
How to watch via antenna or cable: See your options on the Rip City Television Network.
How to watch via streaming: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass everywhere else
How to listen: Rip City Radio 620AM
Trail Blazers Injuries: Shaedon Sharpe, Caleb Love, Damian Lillard (Out); Deni Avdija (Doubtful); Donovan Clingan (Questionable).
Hornets Injuries: Tosan Evbuomwan, PJ Hall, Liam McNeely, Antonio Reeves, Tidjane Salaun (Out).
Draft Decisions. In the 2023 NBA Draft, the Hornets chose Brandon Miller over Scoot Henderson and the two third-year players will get a chance to face off again on Saturday. Miller is in the midst of another productive season, averaging 20.9 points, while shooting 37.2% from behind the arc in 43 appearances.
Henderson’s hamstring injury cost him the first 51 games of the season, but in eight games played since returning, he is averaging 13.6 points and five assists in 22.9 minutes.
Now that he’s been back in the lineup for a few weeks, is he ready to have a breakout game against the team that passed on him?
Historic Shooting. Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel broke the NBA rookie record for three-pointers made in a season Thursday night in Indiana when he knocked down his 207th. He has 22 more games to add to his tally and potentially beat out his good friend and college teammate Cooper Flagg for 2025-2026 Rookie of the Year honors.
Knueppel (44.1% on eight three-point attempts per game) is the best marksman on the team, but hardly the only shooter the Blazers will need to worry about. LaMelo Ball drilled ten threes on his way to 37 points against the Washington Wizards last Sunday.
As a team, the Hornets made 25 three-pointers in that game. Then, they turned around and did it again in their next game at Chicago. Across the entire NBA this season, teams have made 25 threes or more in a game only five times.
The Hornets did it twice in three nights and have made an astonishing 72 three-pointers over their past three games.
Opportunistic Defense. As good as Knueppel and the Hornets have been lately, they aren’t without their flaws. Like the Blazers, they have a turnover problem. For the season, the Hornets average the third-most giveaways in the league. Only the Blazers and the Utah Jazz turn the ball over more often.
Even during the Hornets’ recent surge, the turnovers continue to pile up, and it could present an opportunity for the Blazers, who have disruptive defenders at nearly every position. With Avdija doubtful and Sharpe out, the Blazers will have more minutes available for turnover-forcing pests like Blake Wesley, Sidy Cissoko and Matisse Thybulle.
The Blazers have won the turnover battle just 16 times in their first 60 games, but if they can do it on Saturday, it may be their best chance to leave Charlotte with a win.
In a recent episode of the Zach Lowe Show podcast on The Ringer, Lowe and guest J. Kyle Mann revisited the Hornets’ decision to draft Miller over Henderson. At one point, Lowe says that Henderson has “irresistible charisma,” but suggests that Miller is currently the more valuable player:
This decision has indisputably worked out well for Charlotte. The more interesting question is how Portland is going to look back at that pick.
On the NBA.com Rookie Ladder, Steve Aschburner has moved Knueppel into first place:
Just for historical context, Knuppel – a product of his time, in the NBA style of 2025-26 – has surpassed some of the game’s greatest snipers in their rookie seasons. Damian Lillard hit 185 in his debut season, Steph Curry had 166. Others: Ray Allen, 117; Klay Thompson, 111; James Harden, 93; Reggie Miller, 61.