Lillard Calls Portland's Guard Logjam a Non-Issue — Right Now, He's Correct

The Blazers have four names for two starting spots, but one of them is listed DNP in rehab, and that changes who the math actually squeezes.

Lillard says the backcourt "will work itself out," and he named himself, Ja Morant, Jrue Holiday and Scoot Henderson as the pieces. Here's the part the headline skips: Lillard's 2025-26 line on file is DNP, status rehab. Four guards on a depth chart is a traffic jam. Take out the one who's rehabbing, with no return date anywhere in this dossier, and it's just a rotation. He can afford to be relaxed about a problem that hasn't arrived. F1F10

Holiday's job is the clearest of the group. He's at 16.3 points, 6.1 assists and .451 from the floor, and the model in front of me projects minutes up 6%, usage up 4% and playmaking up 5% — an estimate, not a measurement, but it points the same direction as the roster math. Jerami Grant, Jaylon Tyson and a third departure account for 49% of usage vacated. Somebody eats. Holiday is the veteran with the ball skills to do it. F4F6F7

Morant is the variable. He joined Portland this offseason from Memphis into a new role and system, and he's producing 19.5 points and 8.1 assists on .410 shooting. That's a high-volume engine still finding its footing in a new scheme. Holiday's fit next to him is the easy one to draw: six All-Defensive selections and two championships say he's the guard who can play off the ball, guard the tougher assignment, and not need the possessions to be useful. F15F17F3

The contracts tell you how the front office sorted this before a game was played. Morant is at $39.5M this season and $126.5M across three listed years. Holiday is at $32.4M and $104.4M over three. Both are filed as star tier. Lillard's listed deal is $3.6M for one season, depth tier. That's not a knock on the player — his most recent season on file, 2024-25, was 24.9 points and 7.1 assists — but it's a roster built with two guards paid to start and a third on a value contract coming back from rehab. F16F5F12F11

So who actually loses reps when Lillard is cleared? Not Morant at that number, and not Holiday with 49% of usage sitting on the table. The dossier gives me nothing on Henderson beyond Lillard naming him, so I won't pretend to know his standing — but the squeeze has to land somewhere below the two paid starters. That's a later-in-the-season conversation. This week it's a two-guard rotation with a rehab case behind it. F1F7F16F5F10