The Trail Blazers re-united the center rotation of Jusuf Nurkic and Enes Kanter for the 2020-21 season. The duo’s work was cut short in the second half of the 2018-19 season after Nurkic suffered a gruesome leg injury that removed him from the court for over a year. Kanter, following his role in the Blazers’ march to the 2019 Western Conference Finals, departed Portland for Boston in free agency. This year, Nurkic and Kanter appear to be focused on making up for lost time with hard work and communication in practice.
The Oregonian’s Aaron Fentress highlighted Nurkic’s mentor-like role in a recent feature.