Shaedon Sharpe Shaping up to be a Long-Term Portland Trail Blazer

Shaedon Sharpe is having the year of his career in 2025-26. Right in time, too, following the Portland Trail Blazers rewarding him with a four-year, $90 million rookie extension in October before the season tipped off.

As The Athletic's Sam Vecenie relayed on the Game Theory Podcast, Sharpe's team-friendly deal will allow Portland to take their time with him -- hoping he can become a bargain bin starter, but happy if he ends up a sixth man.

"The good news with Shaedon is that I don't think it has to be one or the other because his deal. Yes, it's extended all the way through 2030, but he's going to be making 12-13% of the cap during that run. You would love that to be starter money, and you would for him to emerge into being a starter in that window because you would be getting a real discount on him being the starter if that was the case," Vecenie said.

"I still have questions, but I think you continue along Shaedon because of the flexibility that the contract grants you. There's no reason to give up on Shaedon right now. Because if he's a sixth man, that's fine, given the money he's set to make for the next four years. If he's a real starter, it's a bargain."

Shaedon Sharpe Growing Alongside Deni Avdija

What makes Sharpe indispensable is that he's worked so well with the team's emerging cornerstone, Deni Avdija. The backcourt has been a resounding success this season, though the pair has been missing games of late. Portland's results have obviously faltered. There's causation there.

Knowing that, if nothing else, the Blazers have a backcourt to build around for the future is a major victory for Joe Cronin. As Avdija and Sharpe continue to grow together, the other building blocks will continue to benefit. Donovan Clingan, and, eventually, hopefully, Yang Hansen could fit the bill here.

The hope is that Sharpe's playmaking eventually improves enough to be a step behind, or maybe even on par with Avdija's. So far, he's evolved from a volume scorer to simply a scorer. Typically, in the NBA, to reach stardom, that next leap needs to include playmaking.

Learning from guys like Avdija and, for as long as he's in the Rose City, Jrue Holiday, should only help Sharpe get there. At least it'll never cost the team much if he simply stays the status quo. Portland is already getting good value for his salary.