Portland Trail Blazers

• 1. Introduction

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  The Portland Trail Blazers name came from the 172nd most popular suggestion in a public contest. Two weeks after the NBA granted Harry Glickman a franchise for Portland, management opened the naming to the public. That was on the 24th of February 1970. More than 10,000 entries arrived. The crowd favorite was "Pioneers," but the judging panel eliminated it immediately. Sports teams at Lewis and Clark College already used that name. So the panel turned to "Trail Blazers." They announced the choice on the 13th of March, at halftime of a SuperSonics game at the Memorial Coliseum. Glickman described what he was after: "both the ruggedness of the Pacific Northwest and the start of a major league era in our state." Reaction was mixed. Over the decades that followed, the Portland Trail Blazers became one of professional basketball's most discussed, devotedly followed, and occasionally notorious franchises. Portland built and sustained a bond with its basketball franchise that astonished the rest of the league. Six Hall of Fame players would wear the red and black. So would some of the sport's most troubled figures. How Portland built that devotion, and what a single championship season meant to it, are questions the Blazers' history answers. Why the name "Jail Blazers" once spread across the country as shorthand for franchise chaos is another.

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• 2. The Championship and Its Cost

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  Bill Walton arrived in Portland in 1974 as the No. 1 pick of the NBA draft, selected from UCLA. The franchise had spent four years failing to reach the playoffs. The Trail Blazers had entered the NBA in 1970 alongside the Cleveland Cavaliers and Buffalo Braves, coached initially by Rolland Todd. Geoff Petrie and Sidney Wicks led those early rosters. The franchise cycled through three head coaches in its first six seasons. One of them, Lenny Wilkens, was later inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach. In 1972, the team used the No. 1 pick in the draft to select LaRue Martin.

  The critical shift came in 1976. The ABA-NBA merger brought four rival-league teams into the NBA, and their remaining players were distributed in a dispersal draft. Portland used that draft to acquire forward Maurice Lucas. That same summer, the organization hired Jack Ramsay as head coach. The 1976-77 season produced Portland's first winning record at 49-33 and its first playoff appearance. That season also concluded with the only NBA championship in franchise history, a victory over the heavily favored Philadelphia 76ers. Walton was named the Finals MVP. The following year, he won the regular season MVP award.

  The 1977-78 campaign opened with Portland going 50-10, and observers spoke of a dynasty taking shape. Then Walton's foot gave out. The team finished 58-24 overall but lost to the Seattle SuperSonics in the conference semifinals. That summer, Walton told management he wanted to be traded to one of four teams: the Clippers, Knicks, Warriors, or 76ers. He was unhappy, he said, with his medical care in Portland. The organization never made the trade. He held out through the entire 1978-79 season and left as a free agent. Maurice Lucas departed in 1980. Through the early 1980s, a roster anchored by Mychal Thompson, Jim Paxson, and Calvin Natt kept Portland in playoff contention, though the team never advanced past the conference semifinals.

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• 3. The Glide and the Finals

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  Clyde Drexler came to Portland as the 14th pick of the 1983 NBA draft, selected from the University of Houston. Known as "Clyde the Glide," he became the franchise's second-most decorated player, behind only Walton, and its defining face for over a decade. In the 1984 draft, Portland held the second overall pick. The Houston Rockets had taken Hakeem Olajuwon, Drexler's college teammate, first overall. Portland then selected Sam Bowie, a center from Kentucky. Drafting third, the Chicago Bulls took Michael Jordan. The decision to choose the injury-plagued Bowie over Jordan was later called one of the worst draft picks in American professional sports history. Other notable players taken later in that same draft include Hall of Famers Charles Barkley and John Stockton.

  In the 1985 draft, the Blazers selected guard Terry Porter with the last pick of the first round. Porter went on to become the franchise's all-time leader in assists. In the 1986-87 off-season, Portland drafted two players from behind the Iron Curtain: Arvydas Sabonis and Dražen Petrović. In 1988, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen purchased the Trail Blazers for $70 million. At 35, Allen became the youngest owner in the Big Four professional sports leagues. His first season brought immediate conflict: multiple players were accused of undermining head coach Mike Schuler, and Schuler was fired mid-season. Rick Adelman took over on an interim basis and was then given the job permanently.

  Portland reached the NBA Finals in 1990 and again in 1992, losing first to the Detroit Pistons and then to the Chicago Bulls. Before the 1990 Finals run, the team recorded two songs: "Bust a Bucket" and "Rip City Rhapsody." The music was played and recorded by Josh Mellicker. Between those two Finals appearances, Portland posted a league-best 63-19 record. In the 1991 Western Conference finals against the Lakers, the Blazers held a late lead in game 6. Cliff Robinson dropped a pass while standing directly under the basket in the final seconds. Terry Porter's wide-open 20-footer then bounced out. The Lakers advanced. After first-round exits in 1993 and 1994, Rick Adelman was fired. Drexler asked to be traded to a contender and was sent to the Houston Rockets. In July 1994, the Trail Blazers brought in Bob Whitsitt as team president. A former Seattle SuperSonics general manager, Whitsitt was known around the league as "Trader Bob."

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• 4. The Jail Blazers

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  Isaiah Rider had been arrested for assault, gambling, and marijuana possession before arriving in Portland. The Trail Blazers acquired him from the Minnesota Timberwolves for a draft pick. Two days before his expected Blazers debut, he was arrested again for marijuana possession. Rasheed Wallace, obtained in a trade with the Washington Bullets, had earned a reputation for confrontation going back to his college career. These were among the players Bob Whitsitt assembled as he rebuilt the roster. For a time, the results on the court appeared to justify the approach. In 1999, under head coach Mike Dunleavy, Portland swept the Phoenix Suns 3-0 in the first round. The Blazers then defeated the Utah Jazz 4-2 in the semifinals. In the Conference Finals, the San Antonio Spurs swept them 4-0. The following season, the Blazers added six-time champion and seven-time All-Star Scottie Pippen from the Houston Rockets. Portland beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 3-1 in the first round and the Utah Jazz 4-1 in the semifinals. They then met the Los Angeles Lakers in the Conference Finals. Portland won games 5 and 6 after losing three of the first four, forcing a game 7. The Blazers led by 15 points at the start of the fourth quarter. The Lakers went on a 25-4 run. Portland lost 89-84.

  In April 2001, Shawn Kemp checked himself into rehabilitation for cocaine use. That same season, Whitsitt signed free agent Ruben Patterson. Patterson had previously pleaded no contest to a felony sexual assault charge and was required to register as a sex offender. Mainstream media began calling the team "The Jail Blazers." In 2002, police responding to an alarm at Damon Stoudamire's house found a pound of cannabis in a crawlspace. The search was later declared illegal and all charges were dropped. In 2003, Wallace, Stoudamire, and Qyntel Woods were cited for marijuana possession. That year, Wallace was also suspended for seven games for threatening a referee. In 2003, Zach Randolph and Patterson first fought in the locker room in an incident the league called "The Slam Heard Around The World." Later, during practice, Randolph sucker-punched Patterson, fracturing his left eye socket and ending his playoff participation.

  Guard Bonzi Wells gave a 2002 interview to Sports Illustrated in which he said of Portland's fans: "We're not really going to worry about what the hell the fans think about us. They really don't matter to us. They can boo us everyday, but they're still going to ask for our autographs if they see us on the street." The Blazers fined him $50,000. In 2005, Qyntel Woods pleaded guilty to first-degree animal abuse for staging dog fights involving his pit bull, named Hollywood. He was given eighty hours of community service and agreed to donate $10,000 to the Oregon Humane Society.

  In the summer of 2003, attendance was declining and Whitsitt announced he was leaving. He was moving to focus on Paul Allen's other franchise, the Seattle Seahawks. John Nash was hired as general manager and Steve Patterson as team president. The new management published a "25-Point Pledge" to fans and traded away Wells, Wallace, and Jeff McInnis. The team still missed the 2004 playoffs, ending a run of 21 consecutive postseason appearances. The 2005-06 season brought a 21-61 record, the worst in the league at the time. In the 2006 NBA draft, six separate trades unfolded in a single day. The results included acquiring Brandon Roy with the 6th pick and LaMarcus Aldridge.

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• 5. Blazermania

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  Starting on the 5th of April 1977, the Portland Trail Blazers sold out every home game for 814 consecutive contests. That streak ran until 1995 and stood as the longest in American major professional sports history at the time. Attendance had been poor in the franchise's first four seasons, averaging fewer than 10,000 fans per game. The streak began the same year Portland won its championship, and the phenomenon it represented earned a name: Blazermania.

  The rallying cry that defined Blazermania came from broadcaster Bill Schonely during the team's very first season. Schonely called out "Rip City" on air, and the phrase became the permanent identity of Portland basketball. He worked Trail Blazers broadcasts from 1970 to 1998. The franchise later retired his number, placing him in the record alongside the numbers of players and coaches. The team averaged over 19,000 spectators per game through the 2002-03 season.

  From 1987 to 1989, Portland's official mascot was a nine-foot-tall sasquatch character named Bigfoot, played by former Trail Blazer Dale Schlueter. On the 22nd of March 1989, the Golden State Warriors beat Portland 151-127. During a timeout that game, Bigfoot crushed a model of the Golden Gate Bridge. The song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" played over the public address system. Warriors coach Don Nelson protested the stunt to the media. Bigfoot was discontinued as the team's mascot. Blaze the Trail Cat, a two-tone silver-colored mountain lion, has served as the official mascot since 2002. In March 2023, Portland introduced a new Bigfoot character named Douglas Fur as a secondary mascot alongside Blaze.

  The Moda Center, where Portland has played since 1995, was known as the Rose Garden until August 2013. A $4 million agreement with Moda Health Corporation prompted the renaming, which drew considerable fan criticism. The arena holds 19,980 spectators for basketball, with standing room increasing capacity to 20,580. The final 27 home games of the 2007-08 season sold out consecutively. That streak extended through the entire 2008-09 season and into the start of 2011-12.

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• 6. The Lillard Era

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  Brandon Roy was named the 2006-07 Rookie of the Year, the first marker in Portland's recovery from the preceding years. The 2007 draft brought the Trail Blazers the No. 1 pick after they won the draft lottery. Portland selected Greg Oden, a center from Ohio State. The Seattle SuperSonics then took Kevin Durant second overall. Oden required microfracture surgery before the season began and missed the entire 2007-08 campaign; Durant became one of professional basketball's defining players. The comparison to Sam Bowie and Michael Jordan from 1984 was immediate, and the contrast widened as Oden's career unfolded. He eventually played 61 games in 2008-09 before chronic knee injuries ended his career.

  Despite Oden's absence in 2007-08, Portland went on a 13-game winning streak beginning in early December, finishing 13-2 for the month. Nate McMillan won the NBA Coach of the Month award. Roy earned Western Conference Player of the Week honors in back-to-back weeks. He was the first Blazer to do so since Clyde Drexler in the 1990-91 season. Roy was named to the 2008 NBA All-Star Game, the first Trail Blazer selected since Rasheed Wallace in 2001. Roy scored a career-high 52 points against the Phoenix Suns in 2008-09. Portland finished that season 54-28 and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2003. In 2010, Rich Cho was hired as general manager; Cho became the first Asian-American general manager in NBA history.

  Damian Lillard arrived in 2012 as the 6th overall pick from Weber State. In his first season, he averaged 19.0 points, 6.5 assists, and 3.1 rebounds per game. He was named the unanimous Rookie of the Year. He joined Ralph Sampson, David Robinson, and Blake Griffin as the only unanimous selections in NBA history. In the 2013-14 season, Portland finished 54-28. In game 6 of the first-round series against the Houston Rockets, Lillard hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer with 0.9 seconds remaining. The shot closed out the series, a moment the franchise nicknamed "Rip City Revival." Portland advanced to the semifinals, where they lost to the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs in five games.

  On the 12th of December 2013, LaMarcus Aldridge scored 31 points and grabbed 25 rebounds against the Rockets. He was the first Trail Blazer to record a 30-point, 25-rebound game. Two days later, Portland made a franchise-record 21 three-pointers against the Philadelphia 76ers. In the 2018-19 playoffs, Lillard hit a 37-foot buzzer-beater to eliminate the Oklahoma City Thunder in game 5. The Blazers reached the Western Conference Finals for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. They lost to the Golden State Warriors in four games.

  On the 4th of June 2021, Portland and head coach Terry Stotts mutually parted ways after a first-round playoff loss to the Denver Nuggets. Chauncey Billups was hired as the next head coach. On the 8th of February 2022, Lillard's longtime backcourt partner CJ McCollum was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans. On the 1st of July 2023, Lillard requested a trade. On the 27th of September 2023, Portland sent him to the Milwaukee Bucks in a three-team deal that also involved the Phoenix Suns. On the 19th of July 2025, Lillard returned to Portland after being waived by Milwaukee. A torn Achilles tendon was expected to sideline him for the season.

  On the 23rd of August 2025, Carolina Hurricanes owner Thomas Dundon purchased the Trail Blazers from the estate of Paul Allen. The price was approximately $4.2 billion. On the 23rd of October 2025, the FBI announced that head coach Chauncey Billups had been arrested in two separate illegal gambling-related cases. The NBA placed Billups on immediate leave and named assistant coach Tiago Splitter as interim head coach. The NBA Board of Governors approved the Dundon sale for $4.25 billion on the 30th of March 2026.

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