A clip of Scoot Henderson at the Portland Trail Blazers media day has recently gone viral on social media — and it’s not hard to understand why.
Henderson spoke to reporters Monday during his press conference held at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Ore.
One reporter asked the incoming Blazers sophomore about what he learned from his rookie season.
After giving it some thought, Henderson threw out an absolute curveball of an answer.
“I look back at,” said Henderson before a lengthy pause. “The food. The good food that I had. Yeah. A lot of food. And what I’ve learned from it. All the games. Obviously, thinking about all the games every night.”
Scoot Henderson clearly showed up to media day out of his mind with all due respect pic.twitter.com/NS8sRDNXv4
— Mark Jackson’s Burner (@casualtakeking) October 1, 2024
A handful of fans couldn’t help but joke that Henderson sounded like he was flying high as a kite for Blazers media day.
We gonna ignore the fact Scoot Henderson showed up completely zooted on media day? 😭😭😭pic.twitter.com/yQdXjxQcrt
— BricksCenter (@BricksCenter) October 1, 2024
My guy is on another planet.
Scoot Henderson never change. #NBAMediaDay 🍃 🤪 💨 pic.twitter.com/Bie4TY5cUO
— Sukh Brar (@JustSukh) October 1, 2024
Scoot Henderson looking higher than a kite on media day 😭pic.twitter.com/7fGVrlhQZl
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) October 1, 2024
I can't tell if Scoot Henderson is trying to be funny here
His takeaway was eating good food? Maybe he didn't understand the question?
Was he hot boxing before this interview? https://t.co/HmPsN8Bxg9
— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) October 1, 2024
It’s possible that Henderson was simply joking around. But the tone and delivery with which he spoke didn’t exactly sound like Richard Pryor in his prime.
Blazers fans probably would have been keen to hear a more serious answer from Henderson given the very real struggles he faced as a rookie.
The No. 3 overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft had an up-and-down first season in Portland. He averaged 14.0 points on a brutal 38.5% from the field and 32.5% from the three-point line. Henderson also set an unwanted NBA record late in his rookie campaign.
