Robert Williams III was only afforded six games with the Portland Trail Blazers before his right knee gave out in early November. Secured in the second half of the famed Damian Lillard trade, Williams was billed as Deandre Ayton’s back up, giving the Blazers a theoretically dominant center rotation.
By mid-November, Williams was in the operating room with doctors reconstructing a torn right knee ligament suffered by a patellar dislocation against the Memphis Grizzlies. The recovery time was made very clear, he was off the court for the season in the hope the rehabilitation would set him up for a successful 2024-25 campaign.