The Sixers will be back in action again late on Monday night, facing the rebuilding Portland Trail Blazers. With a win, the Sixers would notch their first four-game winning streak of the 2024-25 regular season as they inch closer to staging a turnaround after their disastrous start to the season.
Here to get us up to speed on the young player who has the Blazers' future in his hands as well as two old friends of ours who are currently residing in Portland — but could be moving elsewhere soon — is Sean Highkin, who covers the team in The Rose Garden Report.
Let's talk to Sean:
Adam Aaronson: Jerami Grant has completely transformed his game since departing Philadelphia as a young prospect, and now is in his third season with Portland. How has Grant's 2024-25 season gone so far, and do you expect the 30-year-old to be traded in the near future?
Sean Highkin: Grant is having a bit of a down year. He's been in a major shooting slump for most of the season — below 40 percent from the field, and below 40 from three for the first time in his three seasons in Portland. Defensively, he's still been good, but the turn his shooting has taken is not what anyone hoped for.
I do expect Grant to be moved at the deadline. Over the summer, they talked to a few teams about him (most notably the Lakers), but their asking price of two first-round picks was more than anyone wanted to pay at that point. I think that's still what they're hoping to get for him, but I have serious doubts that they'll be able to given where the market currently is, and Grant's aforementioned shooting struggles this season. But he doesn't fit the timeline of the rebuild and I don't think he's going to be here long-term.
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AA: Matisse Thybulle's sixth NBA season — his second full campaign in Portland — has been derailed by injuries. Whenever Thybulle is back, what is his long-term outlook as part of Portland's future?
SH: Along with Grant, Thybulle is the player I most expect to be a part of trade talks between now and February. The wing position is crowded with Shaedon Sharpe, Toumani Camara, Deni Avdija and their own 2023 draft picks Kris Murray and Rayan Rupert, who they want to eventually find more minutes for. Thybulle is on a reasonable contract (around $11 million a year) that's easier to move than some of their bigger salaries like Grant or Deandre Ayton, so there should be interested teams.
That is, of course, if he can get back on the court. He underwent a knee procedure during preseason and was just on the verge of being cleared to return from that when he suffered a pretty bad ankle sprain in practice that he's still at least a couple more weeks away from being fully recovered from. The Blazers are hoping he'll be able to play relatively soon, primarily to show teams he's healthy and rebuild his trade value.
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AA: While there have been flashes of long-term promise, 2023 No. 3 overall pick Scoot Henderson's numbers have largely underwhelmed in his first season-plus in Portland. How worried should the Blazers be about Henderson not returning value on the enormous investment that they made in him?
SH: There's no two ways about it — Henderson's second season hasn't gone the way they'd hoped. Outside of a couple of good games (most notably one in Indiana late last month), the same issues that plagued his rookie season have still been there this year. He's struggled shooting and finishing, and is still turning the ball over 2.6 times per game.
I don't think they've given up hope that he will eventually develop into a starting-caliber point guard, but I personally have a hard time seeing him becoming the franchise player they envisioned when they essentially chose him over Damian Lillard by drafting him No. 3 overall a year ago.
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More Sixers-Trail Blazers information
• Date/Time: Dec. 30, 10:00 p.m. EST
• TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
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