The most immediate decision the Portland Trail Blazers front office faces is whether to extend Scoot Henderson before the start of the 2026-27 season.
But in the bigger picture, the most significant move is the looming extension for their newest All-Star, Deni Avdija.
General manager Joe Cronin was asked about a potential extension for Avdija at Blazers Media Day on Monday. He mentioned the importance of securing Avdija long-term with the realistic hurdles they still face, particularly with an extension complicated by the front-loaded nature of his existing deal.
"Definitely. It's something we spent a lot of time looking at," Cronin said. "He becomes extension-eligible this offseason, and I think it's October 2nd. So you know, in a couple of weeks. With the way his contract is structured, it's complicated. It's not just a normal extension. So we would very likely need to do a renegotiation and extension, which would involve using cap room to do so. So just trying to time that out appropriately in order to best meet his and our needs in that extension. But again, similar to Scoot, not concerned with our ability to get something done and really hope to do so in the next year or two."
Blazers must be proactive about Deni Avdija's extension
Cronin seemed to dodge a lot of questions this time around, which, to be fair, mostly came back as a "wait and see" response, since nobody really knows how this new look roster will unfold.
It makes sense that Cronin wants to keep adding talent in Portland and figure out how all these pieces fit together later, since their current roster doesn't have a high enough ceiling to contend with the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference.
But at the same time, this young Blazers core just managed to reach the postseason for the first time in this rebuild, ending a four-year drought. While the Blazers added more talent for cheaper this offseason, time will tell whether it complements their existing group well enough to build on that playoff foundation.
One concern is that the Blazers finally found their first All-Star since Damian Lillard in Deni Avdija, yet surprisingly failed to prioritize him after he became that missing piece. They didn't add enough shooting to complement his aggressive style as a player who led the league in drives per game.
Financially, they didn't even do a good job of preparing for Avdija's looming extension. Cronin finally dumped Jerami Grant, who was widely viewed as a negative asset because of his massive five-year, $160 million deal that he wasn't playing up to in Portland. But instead of salary-dumping Grant to clear space to renegotiate and extend Avdija, the Blazers took on even more money by taking a flyer on Morant.
Cronin's patience is justified in that the Blazers have time to sort out this mess before risking Avdija actually walking, but seeing as this was the first star they finally successfully landed after years of searching, you'd assume they'd do a better job of proactively clearing room for their newest face of the franchise.
Not concerned is an okay term to describe the situation surrounding Henderson, since he's a sixth- or seventh-option on this roster. But this is Avdija, who has suddenly emerged as the face of this entire rebuild. The Blazers needed to act with more urgency to prioritize him this summer, and Cronin's latest comments at Media Day further confirm that inaction.
This season, we'll see that negatively impact their on-court performance, with Portland struggling to space the floor for Avdija as was the case last season. But hopefully, it doesn't mean they risk not being able to actually renegotiate and extend him in the future.
