Blazers Playoff Berth Comes With a Price

The Portland Trail Blazers are winners of three straight games after beating the Minnesota Timberwolves inside the Target Center.

The win also put the Blazers in the eighth spot in the Western Conference standings over the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors, giving them a better chance to qualify for the playoffs. However, a playoff berth could be costly for the Blazers in the long run.

"The Portland Trail Blazers are another team that should be angling pretty openly for losses. The bottom five in the West will make it nearly impossible for Portland to miss the play-in, but the Blazers only keep their 2026 first-round pick if it's in the lottery," Bleacher Report contributor Dan Favale wrote.

"The incentive to lose those win-or-go-home games is strong. ... And in a format like the play-in, that could be enough to cost the Blazers their pick.

"They have some intriguing young talent, but [Deni] Avdija is the only real star (or player who even looks like a future star). Contention will almost certainly require another, and the 2026 draft could offer several."

Blazers Lose First-Round Pick If They Make Playoffs

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle dribbles the ball past Portland Trail Blazers forward Toumani Camara. | Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

If the Blazers were to make the playoffs, it would mean their pick is out of the lottery. The Blazers sent the pick to the Bulls as part of a three-team trade that brought Larry Nance Jr. to Portland, Lauri Markkanen to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Derrick Jones Jr. to Chicago back in 2021.

The Blazers have been in the lottery every year and have missed out on conveying the pick, but this could be the season where the Bulls finally benefit from that trade.

This year's draft class is one of the best in recent history, so the Blazers would benefit from having this pick in their arsenal. However, they also have to wrestle with the potential idea of getting back to the playoffs for the first time in five years.

It's a tricky dilemma, especially knowing the Blazers probably wouldn't advance past the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs in a seven-game series in the first round. However, the Blazers would likely rather be swept in the first round than "tank" and get eliminated just to have another lottery pick in the building.

The Blazers have been working towards winning and making the playoffs for years. Now is not the time to pump the brakes and slow down.