Portland Trail Blazer guard Shaedon Sharpe made his season debut on Thursday night in San Antonio after missing the first few weeks of the season with a labral tear in his shoulder. It was Sharpe’s first game action since Jan. 11 of last season, where an abdominal injury forced him to have surgery and miss the rest of the 2023-2024.
“He’s worked really hard to get back and he’s been very diligent,” Trail Blazer head coach Chauncey Billups told team sideline reporter Brooke Olzeldam pregame on Thursday.
Sharpe checked in to Thursday’s 118-105 defeat to the Spurs with 3:17 remaining in the first quarter. His first bucket of the season came with 1:37 on the clock in the quarter, retrieving the ball on a left wing dribble hand-off from rookie Donovan Clingan and rising for a smooth looking jump shot from 15-feet.
“For you Blazer fans, it’s just fun to see 17 out there,” said longtime Trail Blazer play-by-play man Kevin Calabro during the game.
Sharpe, whose scores in the game also included a pull-up triple and back door dunk, had a two-handed follow up slam of a Scoot Henderson miss. His next bucket was a floater in the lane, generated by a hustle play in transition in which he trailed Delano Banton and received the ball in the paint from his fellow Canadian teammate before finishing. Sharpe then saved his craftiest and smoothest basket for last.
In the fourth quarter, he caught the ball at the top of the arc and got a screen from center Deandre Ayton at the 8:06 mark. Driving right, Sharpe took two dribbles and cradled the ball with his right arm as he got into the lane, before elevating and releasing what was akin to a sweeping hook shot that lofted just over the outstretched Victor Wembanyama. If the second-year Spur has gumby-like dexterity and length, Sharpe has a little something out of Space Jam, too.
Less than a minute after the finish on Wembanyama, the 21-year-old Canadian found Toumani Camara on a roll to the basket with a sultry one-handed, no look pass over the head and through the hands of Spur big man Zach Collins.
“Wow. This does not look like a first game back type of performance from Shaedon,” said Colabro’s booth sidekick Lamar Hurd on the broadcast. “I’m not seeing any rust. He’s scoring, he’s passing, he’s moving well. Looks really good.”
The game does seem to come easy to the native of London, Ontario, Canada, especially for a player who never played a minute of NCAA basketball (he committed to the University of Kentucky but never suited up for the Wildcats, drafted seventh overall in 2022). He has a natural feel and does not force the action, and has a smooth looking jump shot. As a 6 foot, 5 inch, 205 pound guard, he has great length which not only helps him offensively but defensively as well, being able to get in passing lanes and bother stronger guards and forwards with his length. There have been times throughout his career where Sharpe has been matched up with bigger wings, like on Thursday guarding Harrison Barnes. Sharpe stayed with Barnes laterally around a screen and with his arms outstretched was able to get in the veteran’s line of sight.
The youngest Blazer to reach 1,000 career points and just one of four teenagers to record 30-7-7 in a game (LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Luka Doncic are the others) is part of puppy-young Blazer core whose veteran is the 30-year-old Jerami Grant. The former number-three overall pick Henderson, an attacking guard who can score, and 2024 draft choice Clingan are just 20. Starting lead guard Anfernee Simons is only 25. Ayton is considered another veteran on the team. He is only 26.
Of players from his 2022 draft class, Sharpe had the largest point per game increase from year one to year two, going from 9.9 as a rookie to 15.9 as a second year player. Oklahoma City Thunder budding star Jalen Williams was second out of that class with an increase of five points (14.1 to 19.1). If Thursday night (13 points on 6-for-9 in 20 minutes) is any indication, Sharpe may up that average again this season.
The Blazers dropped to 3-5 on the year with the loss, but with Sharpe back in the lineup now they can continue to develop their young guys and see what they have for a bright Blazer future. It also helps a young group immensely when their head coach is someone like a recently inducted Hall of Famer in Billups, who brings a no-nonsense, no-excuse attitude that will help his team mature mentally and from a competitive standpoint.
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