Say “Point Guard” and, “Portland Trail Blazers” in the same sentence and a single name springs to mind: Damian Lillard. The multi-time All-Star, All-NBA, all-everything player is synonymous with Portland’s success and image. But Lillard cannot play all 48 minutes, 82 games a year.
Apart from a brief blip when Seth Curry joined the roster in 2018-19, Blazers fans have yearned for a true reserve point guard for ages. CJ McCollum took over ball-handling duties with the second unit for many of those years, but his injuries last season laid bare the thin nature of that approach.