Trail Blazers News: Recent Portland Lottery Pick Ruled Out For The Year

Second-year Portland Trail Blazers star shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe has officially been ruled out for the remainder of the season, per a Portland announcement Tuesday on its X account. At the time, Portland had four games left on its season slate. That number is now three, following a 110-100 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans that night.

This feels like just a formality at this stage of the season. The No. 7 pick in the 2022 draft out of Kentucky has been on the shelf since January 11th due to an abdominal injury. He underwent core muscle surgery in February to address the problem. He will now have the entire offseason to work his way back into game shape.

The 20-year-old appeared in just 32 contests (25 starts) for Portland, averaging an encouraging 15.9 points on .406/.333/.824 shooting splits, five rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 0.9 steals a night. A 6'6" swingman, Sharpe was one of many key Trail Blazers pieces who've been felled for much of the year with injury issues.

Portland has an $8.4 million team option on Sharpe's contract for 2025-26 (he's fully guaranteed for next year), though it seems likely that he's shown the team enough already to warrant earning that cash.

At 21-58 and in the Western Conference's No. 14 seed, the Trail Blazers have long since been eliminated from the postseason. So it makes sense for the club, playing for nothing, to prioritize the long-term health of intriguing, high-upside young pieces like Sharpe.