In front of a pretty sizable Rip City crowd, the Portland Trail Blazers held a free-to-enter 40-minute scrimmage. Though the competition was not exactly fierce, it provided fans an opportunity to welcome head coach Micah Nori and Ja Morant, as well as get a glimpse of this season’s squad.

It sounded like they enjoyed what they saw.

Nori, along with some assistants, were introduced first. The first-year Blazers head coach thanked the fans for being there, pointing out that many of them waited since 11 a.m. lined outside the Moda Center.

The players followed. Most of the Blazers received expected reactions, but the fans came especially alive at the sight of Morant and Damien Lillard.

Welcome to Portland, Ja. #Blazers #RipCity #FanFest pic.twitter.com/oIPLHqFfzK

— Elias Esquivel (@_esquivel01) October 4, 2026

“I’m glad we do this before the season, because I kind of got that (nervous) feeling out of running out in front of fans,” Morant said. “I honestly didn’t expect it to be this packed.”

An expected (raucous!) reaction for Dame. #Blazers #RipCity #FanFest pic.twitter.com/gTYUHuvi66

— Elias Esquivel (@_esquivel01) October 4, 2026

Split between gray and black teams, everyone saw a decent amount of floor time by the end. Toumani Camara, Micah Potter, Yang Hansen, Jrue Holiday and Morant started for the black team, while Deni Avdija, Lillard, Scoot Henderson, Sidy Cissoko and Donovan Clingan started for the gray team.

After an admittedly sloppy start, the teams found their groove. It still wasn’t the prettiest basketball per se — more All-Star game vibes — but there we plenty of deep 3-pointers, alley-oops, no-look passes and Yang Hansen putbacks intertwined with the rest.

The first pop of the evening came courtesy of Morant, serving up a 360 layup finish. He then caught and slammed (though not quite emphatically) a no-look lob from Camara. A few teases followed, the crowd wanting any excuse to cheer for the former All-NBA talent. In an interview after the first quarter, Morant told Blazers’ courtside reporter Brooke Olzendam, “I’m back dunking again,” eliciting laughs and cheers.

Perfect time for a spin cycle pic.twitter.com/P6lVNRkqK1

— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) October 4, 2026

The whole evening carried that energy. The players not taking themselves too seriously, and the crowd eating it up. At one point Avdija got stuffed by the rim on a windmill attempt, causing Branden Carlson to fall over near the gray team bench, kicking his feet up, endlessly giggling at his All-Star teammates’ misfortune. Avdija almost immediately followed it with another missed dunk.

At the end of regulation, the sides sat tied. Nori came on the mic to annouce that there was no way the scrimmage could end on a tie, proposing a sudden-death halfcourt shootout. If one team made it then the other had a chance to respond. After a few bricks, Morant stepped up and sank his heave. Sidy Cissoko missed the equalizer.

You couldn’t have scripted Ja Morant’s first introduction to #RipCity any better. He nails the half-courter to win it for the Black team. Sidy Cissoko missed his chance to extend the sudden death for the Gray team.

Morant is voted MVP of Fan Fest by the fans. #Blazers pic.twitter.com/W9u3QIxVeG

— Elias Esquivel (@_esquivel01) October 5, 2026

Morant won the Fan Fest’s MVP, voted on by fans. He joked that the accolade was “up there with the All-Stars.” The 27-year-old point guard appeared jubilant throughout, making the most out of his fresh start, offering his gratitude to Rip City.

“This who support us day in and day out,” Morant said. “So we always want to come out and have days like this for them whenever we can. I feel like today was definitely a big day for us, the start of something good, and I feel like everything about the day has been perfect.”

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