{"id":18182,"date":"2025-05-08T09:15:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T09:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/18182\/"},"modified":"2025-05-08T09:15:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T09:15:35","slug":"what-does-the-future-hold-for-these-7-trail-blazers-role-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/18182\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does the Future Hold for These 7 Trail Blazers Role Players?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most of the discussion surrounding the Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> centers around their flashiest players: Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson, Deni Avdija. But Portland is a young, developing team. They depend on plenty of underneath prospects to grease the wheels. What of their fate in the year to come? That\u2019s the subject of today\u2019s Blazer\u2019s Edge Mailbag.<\/p>\n

Well, the Blazers had a surprisingly good season of mediocrity that will net a mid-first round pick. This is familiar draft territory that has been very hit or miss for the Blazers historically. It feels like draft purgatory<\/p>\n

Which role players are going to move forward with the team? Dalano Banton and Matisse Thybulle have certainly made a strong case for staying on the roster. What about Jabari Walker? Or Duop Reath?<\/p>\n

Daniel<\/p>\n

The most interesting cases are the two \u201cveteran\u201d role players (though I use the term lightly and non-exclusively), Matisse Thybulle and Robert Williams III.<\/p>\n

Thybulle will enter the final year of a three-year contract next season, provided he plans to play under its terms. It\u2019s worth $11.5 million but it\u2019s a player option. He can decline that year and enter unrestricted free agency this summer if he wishes.<\/p>\n

There are two schools of thought on that decision. One is that he\u2019s only played 11 games this season and will max out at 15. That doesn\u2019t leave the greatest recent impression. It\u2019s unlikely to earn him a $10 million raise. Assuming he wants his next contract to be higher, assuming he wants it to extend beyond a single season, he might be better served to play out his final year and hope the market for his services looks brighter next summer. On the other hand, salaries across the league are rising. The 2025-26 mid-level exception projects at $14 million, more than Thybulle is currently making. If he can find a single taker and wants only a modest raise (or no raise and an extension), he could easily opt out.<\/p>\n

Chances are that Thybulle will stay. The Blazers won\u2019t be unhappy about that either. He\u2019s reasonably priced, plays defense, and they can use his contract as a trading chip if necessary.<\/p>\n

Williams has had even more injuries than Thybulle. He\u2019s played only 26 games over two seasons for the Blazers after appearing in 35 the season before he arrived. He has one more year remaining on his contract at $13.3 million.<\/p>\n

The Blazers reportedly love Williams\u2019 skills and approach to the game. He hasn\u2019t shown any ability to stay on the floor, however. That\u2019s going to make him hard to trade in the short term. Likely Portland will let him suit up at the start of the 2025-26 season, see if he can contribute, and make their decisions from there. Like Thybulle\u2019s, Williams\u2019 expiring contract could become a trade asset. The Blazers could also let him play out his deal and take the cap savings in the Summer of 2026. They\u2019d still retain Bird Rights if they wanted to re-sign him.<\/p>\n

Though staying is the most likely course of action for both veterans in the short term, long-term they\u2019re likely to move on. Unless something turns around drastically next year, Portland won\u2019t want to commit more money to players who aren\u2019t going to crack the starting lineup and, at least in Thybulle\u2019s case, are replaceable by younger, cheaper substitutes. The Blazers aren\u2019t close enough to contending to make retaining Williams and Thybulle practical in the long run.<\/p>\n

With the more experienced players accounted for, we\u2019re left with a quintet of marginal contributors to deal with: Jabari Walker, Duop Reath, Dalano Banton, Kris Murray, and Rayan Rupert.<\/p>\n

Walker will become a restricted free agent this summer. Should they choose, the Blazers will have the right to match any salary offers he gets from other teams. He\u2019s currently making $2 million and playing fewer than 12 minutes per game, so that decision is not likely to impact them significantly.<\/p>\n

The problem with Walker and the Blazers right now is that he\u2019s a power forward, especially defensively, but they need him to be a center. His two greatest assets are rebounding and the ability to hit the three-pointer when open. The former is considered disposable in the modern NBA. The latter he\u2019ll have to prove under more stringent circumstances before it becomes bankable.<\/p>\n

Portland doesn\u2019t necessarily need Walker, but they don\u2019t have to let him go either. It all comes down to dollars and common sense. Their 15-man roster has to be filled by somebody. If they like him and nobody makes him a crazy offer, there\u2019s no reason they can\u2019t retain him. But their hold on him is likely to be loose. Their new archetype for power forward is lithe and able to defend the perimeter. Their center pattern has drifted towards huge (or at least athletic) rim protectors. Walker isn\u2019t any of those things. If they lose him, they\u2019ll probably figure his 12 minutes can be replaced by players who fit those molds better.<\/p>\n

Kris Murray, on the other hand, fits right into what Portland is doing at the wing positions. He\u2019s tall, rangy, and willing to defend. His three-point shot needs work, but chances are the Blazers will let him develop it over time. All players at Murray\u2019s level are apt to become throw-ins to bigger deals, but failing that, the sophomore forward will continue to get an extended tryout behind Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara.<\/p>\n

Duop Reath will make $2.2 million next season and, like Walker, will become a restricted free agent in the Summer of 2026. The stakes surrounding Reath should be even lower than Walker\u2019s. Lower-level centers are plentiful in the NBA. The market is depressed right now. Reath hasn\u2019t shown himself as anything more than an emergency substitute. He\u2019s good at that, but it\u2019s not going to earn him a serious contract. I don\u2019t feel like Reath will be here forever, but it wouldn\u2019t hurt if he was.<\/p>\n

Rayan Rupert might join Walker and Reath as a restricted free agent in 2026. Before that the Blazers have a team option for next season. None of it amounts to significant money. Honestly, I\u2019m not sure we know enough about Rupert to make a solid judgment about his future here or anywhere.<\/p>\n

That leaves Dalano Banton, an unrestricted free agent this summer. He can score. We know that much. But his three-point shot is unremarkable, his defense equally so, and questions remain about whether he can run the point. That\u2019s clearly the position that would make him seem special. You don\u2019t see many 6\u20199 floor generals out there. But despite a roughly 2-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, Banton doesn\u2019t look like a natural passer or reliable ball-handler. If he\u2019s just a shooting guard or small forward, the Blazers are replete with those already. Most of them can defend better than Banton too.<\/p>\n

The questions surrounding Banton are two. First, how much does he want? If Portland can get him on another cheap contract\u2014he only makes $2.2 million now\u2014he becomes much more attractive. But if he\u2019s making that little, he might look for a team where the path to playing time is clearer. That\u2019s the second question in Rip City. Scoot Henderson and Anfernee Simons stand ahead of him currently, with a logjam at the wing positions for him to negotiate as well. Will Banton want to stay here even if the Blazers covet him?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t see Portland opening the coffers for Dalano. I could see him factoring in if a trade comes down the pike, opening up rotation spots ahead of him. If that\u2019s going to happen, I might even see them overpaying a bit to keep him (and keep him happy). But \u201coverpaying\u201d in this case is only a small percentage of the salary cap. And I think they\u2019d be equally willing to let him go if they don\u2019t need him.<\/p>\n

Thanks for the question! You all can send yours to blazersub@gmail.com<\/a> and we\u2019ll try to answer as many as we can!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most of the discussion surrounding the Portland Trail Blazers centers around their flashiest players: Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,41,601,5561,43,95,28,1345,1656,6,655,687,471,3967,1841,42,752,64,2265,688,1617,6487,742],"class_list":{"0":"post-18182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portland-trail-blazers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-blazer","10":"tag-blazers","11":"tag-does","12":"tag-edge","13":"tag-for","14":"tag-front-page","15":"tag-future","16":"tag-hold","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-players","19":"tag-portland","20":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","21":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","22":"tag-role","23":"tag-s","24":"tag-sb-nation-nba-wnba","25":"tag-the","26":"tag-these","27":"tag-trail","28":"tag-trail-blazers","29":"tag-trail-blazers-edge-mailbags","30":"tag-what"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114471457699282079","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}