Caleb Love, Chris Youngblood and Jayson Kent are not traveling with the Trail Blazers to San Antonio for Games 1 and 2 of their first-round playoff series, a decision that lands as the team opens a postseason run Sunday night against the Spurs.
Love was one of Portland’s most effective two-way players during the regular season. On Nov. 21, he played 37 minutes in a road win over the Golden State Warriors, scored a career-high 26 points and hit six three-pointers as the Blazers snapped a four-game losing skid. He also scored 16 points in Portland’s Jan. 3 road victory over San Antonio.
The move matters because the Blazers are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2021, ending a five-year run without a postseason series. It also stands out because all seven other road teams on the first weekend of the playoffs brought their two-way players to their games, even though those players are not eligible for the postseason.
That is where Portland’s decision starts to look different from standard NBA practice. Two-way contracts are part of the reason the issue exists at all, but leaving players at home for a playoff trip is not the norm, and the choice has been linked to cost-cutting measures from new owner Tom Dundon. The Blazers’ sale officially closed on March 31, setting up the new ownership backdrop before this postseason began.
For a team trying to make its first playoff run in five years feel like a fresh start, the question now is whether the savings attached to this trip will be worth the message it sends to the players who helped get Portland here.