The 2024 NBA offseason is all but complete, and so far, the Portland Trail Blazers are among those happy with their progress.
Since June, we’ve seen one veteran shipped out, a fresh-faced NCAA champion brought in, and a general manager paving a path toward the future.
For now, the Blazers’ summer feels like a success—albeit perhaps incomplete.
The biggest elephant left in the room is Jerami Grant, with teams like the Los Angeles Lakers tied to him in trade rumors. There’s also Deandre Ayton, who’s been in recent offseason buzz. And then there’s Anfernee Simons, who is the Blazers’ current-day CJ McCollum, in that he’ll fill rumor mills until the day he’s dealt or the day he wins a title in Portland. (You can also call it Jaylen Brown Syndrome.)
With plenty of time between now and training camp, the team can still make moves. But given what we’ve already seen since the end of 2023-24, it’s easy to spot a couple of winners, as well as a clear, unfortunate loser of the 2024 offseason.
Winner: Defense
The Trail Blazers drafted Donovan Clingan with the No. 7 overall pick for his defense, and boy, did it stand out during the Las Vegas Summer League.
In Game 1, Clingan didn’t just flash potential, he straight-up blinded opposing rim-runners with it collecting five(!) blocks and altering shot after shot. He showed he could move on the perimeter, too, and earned an immediate reputation as the Cleanup Duty Director with 13 boards in his debut.
By the time the Vegas event ended, Clingan had set an NBA Summer League record with 4.3 blocks per contest. The previous owner of that record? That would be San Antonio Spurs sensation Victor Wembanyama, who claimed 4.0 blocks per game in 2023.
Offensively, Clingan’s game came along slowly during his first-ever NBA competition. The scoring wasn’t there, and his playmaking was limited despite showing promise. Even his touch around the rim wasn’t what you’d want to see (at least if you’re like me and dream about Scoot Henderson drive-and-dump-offs to Clingan in your sleep).
I can’t call Clingan’s offense a loser, though, mainly because the rookie was in experimental mode. Truly. He took more three-pointers over a few games than ever in college. And as alluded to above, the playmaking was there and proved helpful to the offense.
All that said, shooting sub-40 field-goal percentages as a 7’2” center in Summer League is not great, Bob. So, as expected, it really will be his defense that earns him minutes in Year 1.
Also, not to bury half the lede, but the trade for Deni Avdija immediately gives Portland a new perimeter plus-defender with length and room to grow at just 23 years old.
Nobody should expect the Trail Blazers to join the league’s elite defenses this season, but that side of the floor has been a point of contention for too many years.
With these two pickups, there is a glimmer of hope that reinforcements have arrived.
Loser: Malcolm Brogdon
Malcolm Brogdon was always the most likely of Portland’s veterans and trade-block stars to land on a new team this summer. Even more so than Jerami Grant, Matisse Thybulle, or Simons. Brogdon is simply too good to bury deep in the guard rotation, but giving him the minutes he deserves would sacrifice meaningful reps from Scoot, Simons, and Shaedon Sharpe. That’s a bad recipe, and it’s one the team needed to abandon.
So yes—Brogdon was the one you could feel would be flipped. You could tell he’d end up on a contender. A contender willing to flip assets for a veteran leader and ball-handler. A contender ready to win now.
And then Brogdon was traded … to the Washington Wizards.
At this point, it feels like Brogdon will be moved again for draft capital. Washington is clearly in a rebuilding phase. Trading him once more—to a real contender willing to deal—will make the Wizards, Brogdon, and some contender somewhere happy campers.
But with no new smoke forming around Brogdon’s name from the rumor mill, it also feels like Washington will hold onto him as an expiring contract until February’s deadline.
Hopefully, the Wizards can showcase the point guard, keep him healthy, and find him a real home in 2025.
Winner: Joe Cronin
This has been a good summer for Trader Joe.
For starters, the Avdjia deal is a win in just about every way. If you were hoping for a first-round draft pick in return for Brogdon, you might feel disappointed—but you may also be thinking about his pre-injury, pre-deadline market last season.
After assessing the current market, Cronin traded a player who never fit the team’s timeline and who created a logjam in the backcourt. He turned him into a young, lanky defender—someone who happens to be an emerging rebounder and bucket-getter and is on a team-friendly contract while still approaching his prime.
Cronin also stayed patient in the draft, waiting for prized big man Donovan Clingan to slip.
Of course, Cronin doesn’t deserve credit for other teams passing on the UConn center. But that patience—which came down to following a game plan—paid off.
Cronin knew he could have traded up to land his target. He also knew Cody Williams would be available if Memphis swooped in to trade for Charlotte’s No. 6 pick and snag Clingan. He knew he had options. And he never balked.
This is important because tearing down the house is always the easy part of a rebuild, no matter how tough it feels at the time. Trading a star player isn’t easy, but rebuilding after he’s gone is how you prove your mettle as a GM.
At some point, you have to determine a direction, and you have to stick with it.
While Cronin has a ways to go, he’s used this 2024 offseason as a chance to build and to do so in a forward direction. That’s clear to fans entering 2024-25. And that’s the first battle winning over a fan base ready to root for winning basketball.
