Through their push towards extending their playoff streak to a league-high ninth-consecutive season, the Portland Trail Blazers have remained as “competitive” as ever. It just so happens that in 2021-22, they’ve been competing in an entirely different way. On a week-by-week basis, they’ve managed to out-do themselves through uncertainty and negativity, a potential foreshadowing in what could be one of the more consequential seasons in franchise history.
Here’s a briefing on what they’ve endured in just this past week: the loss of a longtime general manager Neil Olshey, a collapsed lung for star guard CJ McCollum, Round 10 of Damian Lillard’s “he say, she say” social media battle with NBA insiders over his loyalty … oh, and how about a four-game losing streak, just for the heck of it?