RealGM Basketball Wiretap

06 October 2024

• Shaedon Sharpe Out 4-6 Weeks Due To Left Shoulder Injury

  Shaedon Sharpe was diagnosed with a small posterior labral tear in his left shoulder, the Portland Trail Blazers announced on Saturday.

  Sharpe will miss the next 4-6 weeks.

  Sharpe averaged 15.9 points in 32 games last season.

• Robert Williams III Out At Least Two Weeks With Left Hamstring Strain

  Robert Williams III experienced a grade 1 left hamstring strain during training camp this week. Williams is expected to miss two weeks, and his status will be updated as appropriate.

  Williams appeared in just 35 games during the 22-23 season and six in 23-24 due to various knee and hamstring injuries.

  Williams signed a four-year, $54 million extension with the Boston Celtics during the 2021 offseason. Williams will be part of the free agent class in 2026. Williams has been an anticipated trade candidate since the Portland Trail Blazers acquired him as part of the Jrue Holiday trade last year.

• Blazers Sign, Waive David Muoka

  The Portland Trail Blazers signed and waived center David Muoka. The pair of transactions is designed to see Muoka join the Rip City Remix of the G League as an Affiliate Player for the upcoming season.

  The 6-foot-11 center went undrafted at the 2024 NBA Draft. After spending two college seasons apiece with Lamar and UNLV, Muoka played for the Long Island Nets of the G League last season. The native of Hong Kong averaged 4.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 14.7 minutes per game.

• Trail Blazers Waive Henri Drell

  The Portland Trail Blazers have waived forward Henri Drell. The Blazers signed Drell to an Exhibit 10 contract earlier this offseason.

  Drell is expected to play for the Rip City Remix of the G League as an Affiliate Player this season. The 6-foot-9 forward may also draw interest from European clubs.

• Blazers To Broadcast Games Over The Air Next Season

  The Portland Trail Blazers are set to broadcast games over the air on local networks and other Sinclair Broadcasting stations in Oregon and Washington next season.

  The team will also have a direct-to-consumer streaming option called BlazerVision for the upcoming year.

• Taze' Moore, Blazers Agree To Two-Way Deal

  Taze' Moore and the Portland Trail Blazers have agreed to a Two-Way deal. Moore, who is represented by agent Jeff Potter, went undrafted in the 2022 NBA draft out of Houston.

  Moore appeared in four games last season with the Blazers, averaging 4.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 10.1 minutes. Moore also appeared in 25 G League games, averaging 14.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 6.4 assists in 29.7 minutes.

• Blazers Name Sergi Oliva Head Coach Of Rip City Remix

  The Rip City Remix have announced Sergi Oliva as the team's next head coach. The Remix are the G League affiliate of the Portland Trail Blazers.

  Oliva brings a depth of coaching experience to the Remix bench as he has served as an assistant coach for two seasons with the Utah Jazz from 2020-22. Prior to Utah, he was first hired as a basketball operations analyst in 2014 by the Philadelphia 76ers and then held a dual role of front office strategy and coaching with coach Brett Brown from 2017-2020.

  Currently, Oliva serves as the assistant general manager for the Portland Trail Blazers and will reassume the role once the G League season has concluded.

• RealGM Radio: David Locke, Adam Mares On The Northwest Division (Aug 2024)

  Host Danny Leroux, David Locke of the Utah Jazz and Locked on Podcast Network and Adam Mares of DNVR break down the Northwest Division.

  They discuss how the Jazz, Nuggets, Trail Blazers, Timberwolves and Thunder fared in the off-season and predict the season to come, including projected finish, breakout players and rookies they are most excited to see.

  Subscribe to RealGM Radio on Apple Podcasts or via the RSS feed.

• Back-To-Back Games Up In 24-25 NBA Schedule Vs Prior Year

  As the NBA continues to find ways to increase player availability for key and high-profile games, that has led to more back-to-backs being scheduled in 2024-25. Teams average 14.9 back-to-back games in next season's schedule, which is up slightly from last season. That figure is still down considerably from a decade ago.

  This season, the league has arranged the schedule to make sure no team is on a back-to-back ahead of opening week national TV games, holiday games (Christmas and MLK) and before Saturday night showcase games on ABC throughout the season. In addition, no NBA Cup games will be played as the second game of a back-to-back.

  A group of 11 teams have the most back-to-back games scheduled at 16 occurrences. This group includes the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, LA Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings and Washington Wizards.

  A group of six teams have the fewest back-to-back games scheduled at 13 occurrences. This group includes the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic and Portland Trail Blazers.

  There are no instances of four-in-five games. The NBA has worked to eliminate those situations over the years.

• Blazers Leave Local RSN With One Year Left On Contract

  The Portland Trail Blazers are leaving ROOT Sports, the cable network that had been broadcasting their games since 2021.

  The team is switching television partners with one year remaining on the current deal, sources told The Athletic.

  "Trail Blazers basketball will no longer air on ROOT Sports, but we thank ROOT Sports for years of great partnership," the Blazers said in a statement.

  The Blazers did not announce a new local television partner.