The Portland Trail Blazers are dampening some of the excitement about the franchise’s first trip to the playoffs in a half-decade.
Trail Blazers president of business operations Dewayne Haskins disappointed fans with a revelation he made during a news conference on Friday. Haskins said that fans would not be receiving free playoff T-shirts for Games 3 and 4 of their first-round playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs at Moda Center in Portland, Ore. (per Guillermo Motta of KATU News in Portland).
Portland is in the playoffs this year for the first time since 2021 (with four losing seasons along the way). They secured the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference by beating the Phoenix Suns in the NBA play-in tournament earlier this week and are now set to face off against the No. 2 seed Spurs.
The Blazers also notably had an official change in ownership earlier this month. On April 1, Tom Dundon formally became the new controlling owner of the franchise after purchasing them last year from the estate of Paul Allen for an estimated sum of $4.25 billion.
Dundon, 54, is also notably the owner of the NHL’s Carolina Panthers. On top of that, Dundon was a key figure in the collapse of the Alliance of American Football (AAF), which he served as controlling owner and chairman of before abruptly shutting down the league within months due to a lack of TV money.
It is always possible that the Blazers could have another free playoff giveaway for their fans other than T-shirts. But with the fanbase having waited a decent amount of time since Portland’s last playoff berth, many are feeling a bit disappointed and confused right now.
