Ideally, NBA teams would formulate all their choices strictly on on-court value. However, reality is seldom that simple. Managing roster chemistry is incredibly complicated. Athletes put in immense effort to establish their standing in the league. This standing impacts their public image, their financial compensation, and their professional longevity. Consequently, they are rarely willing to give up their hard-earned status just because a coach or front office believes a small tweak could boost the collective roster. To preserve team unity, organizations must often compromise and take paths they would typically avoid.
The Portland Trail Blazers find themselves dealing with this exact predicament right now. During the current offseason, the franchise secured Ja Morant via trade. The previous summer saw them bring back Damian Lillard while he rehabbed a ruptured Achilles tendon. Furthermore, during the prior campaign, Deni Avdija developed into an All-Star caliber talent as the sole dependable playmaker for Portland. While a single playmaker is insufficient, having a trio of them—especially when misaligned—creates a logjam. Nevertheless, during Tuesday’s training camp press conference, Lillard expressed his expectation that he, Avdija, and Morant will share the floor as starters this coming year.
This declaration seemed to surprise rookie head coach Micah Nori, who has openly admitted his starting lineup remains undecided and, as reported by The Athletic, pointed out that pairing Lillard and Morant in the starting lineup is highly impractical. This touches on the core of the problem. Avdija, who stands out as the youngest and most productive player currently, is locked into a starting role.
The real debate centers on who should join him on the court, and from a pure tactical perspective, it cannot be both Lillard and Morant. Such a pairing would easily form the most vulnerable defensive backcourt in the NBA. Surrounding Avdija with two high-usage playmakers diminishes his overall effectiveness, while Morant’s struggles from beyond the arc would restrict floor spacing even further. These structural challenges should have been thoroughly evaluated before Portland finalized the trade for Morant, but that decision is already behind them.
With Morant officially on the roster, the coaching staff must determine the most effective way to utilize his skill set.
The Case for Ja Morant as a Reserve
The most logical solution from a tactical standpoint is clear: Morant needs to anchor the second unit for Portland.
An optimized and fully recovered Lillard offers the perfect bridge between Portland’s previous roster deficiencies and their current reinforcements. Avdija was desperate for a partner to share playmaking responsibilities. Lillard’s perimeter threat allows him to excel off-ball when Avdija dictates the offense, and his elite pick-and-roll capability should create open opportunities for Avdija that simply did not exist last term. At the very least, lightening his offensive workload should allow him to rejuvenate his defensive intensity after a season in which he expended all his stamina on scoring.
A starting group featuring a well-rounded Avdija, Donovan Clingan, Toumani Camara, and an elite defender like Jrue Holiday boasts enough defensive versatility to mask Lillard’s notorious shortcomings on that side of the court. This arrangement allows Morant to completely control the reserve units instead of splitting ball-handling duties with the main group.
The primary risk of trading for an asset like Morant is that his utility relies almost entirely on his capability as a dominant playmaker. His limitations in perimeter shooting and defense do not translate well to a lesser role. Even assuming he returns to his peak performance level, his primary worth comes from having the basketball in his hands to orchestrate the attack. When he is off the ball, his impact drops significantly. On a roster already featuring Avdija and Lillard—with Scoot Henderson seeking an extension and Shaedon Sharpe waiting in the wings—that specific playmaking style is far less critical than it was when the Memphis Grizzlies constructed their entire system around him.
Transitioning Morant to a substitute role ensures he spends his court time performing his core strengths, even if his overall playing time is reduced. This strategy represents the most logical configuration for the squad, though it might not be a decision that Morant and his colleagues readily embrace.
A Complex Dilemma for Rookie Head Coach Micah Nori
Unsurprisingly, most 27-year-old former All-Stars are reluctant to accept a bench role. It has been under twelve months since Morant’s highly publicized friction with Grizzlies head coach Tuomas Iisalo, a dispute largely triggered by unusual substitution patterns. Even then, Morant maintained his starting spot in every game under Iisalo. Throughout his professional career, he has only served as a reserve twice, both instances occurring as he worked his way back from injuries during his prime. While he is currently playing on a maximum contract, he has only two seasons remaining on this deal. While playing with the second unit benefits the team, substitute players command vastly different market values than established starters, which complicates his long-term earning potential.
Nori understands these delicate dynamics. ‘We can’t just bench Jrue simply because he’s professional enough not to complain about it,’ the head coach explained. For the time being, his strategy is to test a Lillard-Morant backcourt during exhibition games to assess its viability. However, Nori did not downplay the friction that could arise if they have to pivot Morant to the bench. ‘Publicly, I believe he’d put on a brave face,’ Nori observed. ‘But internally… that’s a different story.’
Ultimately, this roster puzzle is something that will likely have to resolve itself through live-game execution.
History shows this is often how these complicated scenarios unfold, with Russell Westbrook serving as a recent illustration. Darvin Ham allowed Westbrook to start the first three matches of the Lakers’ 2022-23 campaign—resulting in three straight defeats—before making the adjustment to slide him to the bench. Tyronn Lue faced a comparable dynamic when integrating James Harden alongside Westbrook on the Clippers. After five consecutive losses with the duo starting together, Lue shifted Westbrook to a reserve role, sparked a dramatic turnaround, and led the team to victory in 27 of their subsequent 34 games.
Naturally, the Lakers had the benefit of a full prior season demonstrating that Westbrook in the starting lineup was ineffective. Furthermore, Lue possessed the authority and respect of a championship-winning head coach, giving him the leverage to make bold decisions. By that juncture, Westbrook had already experienced being demoted to the bench in Los Angeles and was approaching the twilight of his career. Morant, by contrast, is much younger and has far less tenure with his current franchise than Westbrook did when Lue made his move.
Additionally, Nori lacks Lue’s established track record. As a first-year head coach, he must juggle several conflicting demands: optimizing his tactical setups, maintaining player buy-in, navigating a front office that likely did not anticipate their $40 million acquisition serving as a backup, and dealing with the pressure of what is essentially a one-year deal. Although Nori remarked to The Athletic that contractual pressures won’t dictate his choices, such assertions are easy to make in the fall. The reality becomes much more challenging if the team stumbles early in the season.
These are precisely the high-stakes decisions that define a head coach’s tenure. Whether it happens immediately or further down the road, Portland will likely need to convince Morant to embrace a reserve role. Their ability to manage this transition smoothly could ultimately dictate the trajectory of their entire season.
