Despite running pick-and-rolls at the NBA’s seventh-highest rate in 2025-26, the Portland Trail Blazers finished as the league’s fourth-worst team in terms of efficiency on said plays.
If recent offseason workouts are evident of anything, that’s all that Damian Lillard and Donovan Clingan needed to hear before getting to work.
Clingan, Lillard Can Form Dangerous Duo
The Giannis Antetokounmpo rumors and Portland’s front office adventures have remained the dominant offseason stories, but somewhere not far behind, all of Rip City remains subscribed to one question: how seamless will Lillard’s on-court reintegration be in 2026-27?
Advertisement
Although it doesn’t count for a ton, the early returns look quite smooth, both in terms of his movements, and already-budding chemistry alongside Portland’s up-and-coming big man.
Expectations should certainly be tempered if they weren’t already, but after seeing this – and thinking about how potent Lillard-led pick-and-roll pairings have been in the past – it’s fun to at least hypothesize about what the Blazers’ inconsistent offense could be in store for in future months.
For instance, consider pick-and-roll numbers from the last five seasons with Lillard heading the ship:
@meloferg
Context is useful here, in considering a few factors:
Advertisement
For starters, these numbers demonstrate more of a “prime form,” top-of-the-league, pre-Achilles injury version of Lillard, so expecting a top-ranked pick-and-roll attack immediately feels premature. They do, however, illustrate a player who has mastered the nuances of his play design, even amidst team and role changes of his own.
The roll man numbers – and especially 2022-23’s down year – might take one aback, until you remember that during this season, Jusuf Nurki, Lillard’s once-upon-a-time running mate in ball screen actions, missed 30 games. This was the season in which Portland was both historically undersized and, in Nurki’s absence, rolled out 6-foot-10-and-under lineups as if the league had shrunk.
Nonetheless, the league’s history books and Portland’s highlight reels will remember that Lillard-Nurki pairing – and the ones prior to – as prolific. And given Clingan’s above-the-rim potential, it’ll likely be no different in 2026-27.
If all works, it’ll also represent another area in which Clingan took a leap towards stardom.
Advertisement
In 2025-26, he had the league’s third-most pick-and-roll shot attempts (170), but in a perfect world, the efficiency (46.5 percent) and overall league wide percentile (48.9) will elevate a few ticks higher. If there’s any chance of conquering the San Antonio and Oklahoma City-type teams out West, it’ll be paramount.
Weighing out factors such as Lillard’s season-long acclimation curve, Clingan’s growth, and the presence of Portland’s other star-like talent, one would predict something along the lines of: a top-10 rank in pick-and-roll ball handling stats, an above-average finish in numbers for the roll man, and most importantly, the franchise’s first above-league-average offense since 2020-21.
In the meantime, the 11-second video clip will be something to file away and add to the growing list of reasons to be excited for future Blazers basketball, especially for those awaiting the latest tidbit on trade rumors.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/trailblazers/onsi as The Trail Blazers’ Long-Awaited Pick-and-Roll Duo Is Finally Coming Together.