{"id":772919,"date":"2026-07-01T21:49:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T21:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/772919\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T21:49:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T21:49:16","slug":"damian-lillards-fantasy-basketball-outlook-following-trail-blazers-ja-morant-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/772919\/","title":{"rendered":"Damian Lillard’s Fantasy Basketball Outlook Following Trail Blazers’ Ja Morant Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Portland Trail Blazers have already had a busy offseason coming off a surprising 2025-26 campaign. The Blazers\u2019 front office executed an aggressive trade ahead of the start of NBA<\/a> free agency, picking up two-time All-Star Ja Morant<\/a> in a trade on Monday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Portland sent Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to the Memphis Grizzlies to bolster a talented backcourt group featured by veterans in Jrue Holiday and franchise legend Damian Lillard. Morant will have the opportunity to compete for a featured role in a star-studded point guard room coming off a shortened campaign last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over 20 games, Morant posted career-low percentages from both the field and 3-point range, notching 19.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game. He\u2019s under contract for the next two years, scheduled to hit free agency following the 2027-28 season at the time of the trade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His arrival to Portland will have an immense impact on the backcourt, especially in fantasy basketball. Damian Lillard is slated to return for the 2026-27 season after missing the entirety of last season due to a torn Achilles suffered during the playoffs at the end of the 2024-25 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the roster currently stands, Lillard will likely be brought off the bench upon his return to knock the rust off. I\u2019d expect him to find his way to the starting lineup, considering his status with the team, improving his fantasy outlook over the long term.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s explore Portland\u2019s backcourt outlook entering the 2026-27 campaign:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trail Blazers\u2019 PG Decision Could Determine Damian Lillard\u2019s Fantasy Outlook\"Portland<\/p>\n

Apr 10, 2026; Portland, Oregon, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) watches his teammates during warm ups before the Trail Blazers play against the LA Clippers at Moda Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

The Trail Blazers will have a decision to make coming into the season. Holiday will likely secure a starting job until Lillard is caught up to speed, with Ja Morant and Scoot Henderson set to battle it out for the starting point guard spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lillard\u2019s fantasy ceiling is still a massive unknown as he prepares for his return. Despite his offensive inconsistency, Morant tied a career-high with 8.1 assists last season, while Holiday averaged 6.1 assists over 53 games for the Blazers. Lillard could see fewer opportunities as the primary playmaker, considering the contention for touches in Portland\u2019s offense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deni Avdija will likely sustain his role as the primary option in Portland\u2019s rotation, though there\u2019s reason to believe Lillard could pair as a No. 2 option if he finds his way back to 100%. I don\u2019t think Lillard will replicate his 24.9\/4.7\/7.1 averages from his 2024-25 campaign, but 20-point, five-assist splits don\u2019t feel out of the question for the star veteran.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll also present a favorable ADP coming off an injury, making Lillard a quality sleeper candidate coming into the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of time left in the NBA offseason, and a number of moves could re-shape the lineup coming into the year, but Lillard should be ready to make an impact upon his return regardless.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read More Fantasy On SI News\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Portland Trail Blazers have already had a busy offseason coming off a surprising 2025-26 campaign. The Blazers\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-772919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}