The Portland Trail Blazers lost to the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday, 114-95, putting a merciless end to the team’s season and a full stop to its sudden Victor Wembanyama problem.
Here’s the catch: That problem doesn’t just go away.
The Blazers learned a tough Wemby lesson in this series, but it’s going to get worse from here. Not just for Portland, of course. That would be wishful thinking on the NBA’s part, assuming this Round 1 result was solely an indictment of the Trail Blazers and not a testament to what the Spurs under Wembanyama have become.
To the contrary, 29 teams are abruptly in this together, navigating a new world in which everyone is experiencing the same thing.
An Alien takeover.
Right now, we’re witnessing Wembanyama’s impact grow at an unprecedented pace. He’s the first-ever unanimous Defensive Player of the Year. He’s leading a championship-caliber team in his third season at just 22 years old. He’s someone you can picture winning future MVPs.
As wild as it sounds, you could even see him someday stealing naming rights for DPOY from Hakeem Olajuwon, the legend he personally trained with. That would be surreal and unheard of. And also the ultimate flex to literally steal the name of the Defensive Player of the Year award.
At this point, Wemby looks like more than a star you gameplan around. Before you know it, you’ll have to build your roster just to stop him. Or contain him. Or … at least make him stop smiling all game.
Depending on how the rest of the 2026 playoffs play out, we might already be there. When it comes to this idea, that you have to draft, sign, or trade for players who level the playing field against a single-star opponent, Wembanyama is already in Shaq territory.
Shaquille O’Neal is THE example of such a dominating presence that you sought players meant to absorb him, frustrate him, or just survive him.
Portland has been here before. In fact, they were in that exact scenario entering the 2000s.
Two-and-a-half decades ago, Shaq was firmly planted in the path of the talented and contending Trail Blazers. Portland traded a young, up-and-coming Jermaine O’Neal for Indiana Pacers brute center Dale Davis, because they needed a big body and a specialist to counter such a force of nature—all for a maximum 11 games per year (4 regular-season matchups, 7 playoffs).
Flash forward, the Blazers need to think the same way about Wemby. Both Portland and San Antonio are on the same timeline, with the Spurs miles ahead in contention. If Portland becomes a contender, the Spurs and Wembanyama could be enemy No. 1 at some point, along with those pesky Oklahoma City Thunder. And Wembanyama, more than anyone else, is set to change how teams build their rotations.
While Portland has an exciting young core with potential, the answer here might be the home-run swing everybody keeps talking about: Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Giannis has already had epic showdowns against Wemby. In fact, he’s really had the 7’5” center’s number on both a scoring and a rebounding level, while the Spurs center has bested him by a long shot in blocks and three-point shooting.
If the production gap in head-to-head faceoffs leans at all in favor of Giannis, it’s because he’s punished the matchup with power, pace, and a level of control Wemby is still learning to counter.
Would the Blazers actually consider shaking up their young core for someone entering his 14th season? Apparently, yes.
According to Bill Oram of The Oregonian, the Blazers are “prepared to make a pitch” for the Milwaukee Bucks superstar this season, assuming he doesn’t sign an extension with the only team he’s ever known.
Extra context here matters because a move of this magnitude would be about more than just building the best Wemby-proof roster. With Damian Lillard back on a bargain deal, it will also be about expediting the process, with 2026-27 featuring a new kind of urgency to win now and chase stars.
For the Blazers, you’re rarely in a position to add anyone of Giannis’ level, let alone do it when you’re ready to reincorporate a three-point threat and franchise legend in Lillard. And for Giannis, playing with Dame and Jrue Holiday again has always felt like a real selling point for someone who respects the hell out of both his former point guards.
To actually make this happen, trade scenarios start with Portland’s draft gold. The picks they snagged from the Bucks in the 2023 Lillard trade are the focal point of any possible deals. Milwaukee will be looking for young assets and draft control, and there’d be no better reward for trading Giannis than reclaiming their own future while resetting their timeline.
To recap: Portland controls Milwaukee’s 2029 first-round pick outright, plus pick swaps in 2028 and 2030. To add to the war chest, general manager Joe Cronin also has an extra 2028 first-rounder from last summer’s Draft-day deal, which sent Cedric Coward’s rookie rights to Memphis, allowing the Blazers to trade down and select Yang Hansen.
Of course, trade talks get complicated when players are also swapped. One scenario might involve Jerami Grant plus either Scoot Henderson or Shaedon Sharpe. Or, we could see Milwaukee demand both of Portland’s young guards if they start negotiations high with Deni Avdija in their sights.
There are alternate paths for the Blazers to land a star, too. Portland could use those same picks as a third-team facilitator in other Giannis deals. If the Knicks, for example, push all in and put Karl-Anthony Towns on the table, the Blazers could land the star by sending Milwaukee’s picks to the Bucks in the trade.
But again, Giannis feels like the right star at the right time to try and neutralize Wembanyama’s ascent. At least, more so than a Towns at this point.
Speaking of the Knicks, though, reports have New York atop Giannis’ wish list. At the last trade deadline, there were indications Giannis also wanted to avoid Portland despite Lillard’s recruiting efforts.
That is … certainly something to consider.
Remember, though, Dale Davis also had a list of teams he wanted to join after leaving Indiana: Dallas, Miami, and New York.
Portland took a shot anyway, and a deal got done.
Obviously, the Davis experiment didn’t work. Shaq remained unstoppable, won three titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, and to this day, Rip City immediately thinks of two O’Neals when hearing the name Dale Davis: Shaquille and Jermaine.
It’s why, even so many years later, the thought of trading a potential star for a 31-year-old Giannis—all to help stop a single extraterrestrial force for a maximum 11 games per year—can give fans basketball-related PTSD and force them to start playing “What If?” with guys like Shaedon and Scoot before a trade actually happens.
But back in 2000, something did need to happen. The Blazers had a beast in their way, and they knew they needed to strike.
Today, in the immediate aftermath of a fun, surprising season, but one that never stood a real chance at glory, it’s not a beast in their path ahead, but an Alien, and one who happens to be the most incredibly gifted two-way center we’ve ever seen and a top-three current player, not years from now, but today in his third season.
Giannis in Portland doesn’t solve everything. The Blazers’ shooting woes were straight-up uncomfortable to watch against San Antonio, and Giannis is a career 28.5 percent shooter from three.
But his size, downhill pressure, and defensive versatility would give Portland something it doesn’t have: a credible challenge to Wembanyama over seven games.
And his gravity, while not Wemby-like, would create better outside looks than the Blazers ever saw this season, all on a roster ramping up for Damian Lillard’s epic return.
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