{"id":2070106,"date":"2026-07-31T01:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2070106"},"modified":"2026-07-31T01:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:01:11","slug":"trail-blazers-city-of-portland-finally-meet-but-distance-to-arena-deal-remains-significant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2070106","title":{"rendered":"Trail Blazers, city of Portland finally meet, but distance to arena deal remains \u2018significant\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 The good news for basketball fans in this region: The Portland Trail Blazers and government officials for the city of Portland finally got in a room and talked on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The bad news: Both sides remain divided \u2014 deeply divided \u2014 on whether the city will give the team $573 million in public funding for arena improvements in exchange for a 20-year lease that keeps the team in Portland.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cToday was a show from the Blazers that they are serious about coming to the table,\u2019\u2019 Portland city council president Jamie Dunphy said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if that guarantees anything \u2026 in fact, I think the distance between the Blazers and the city is pretty significant.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The sides are trying to agree on a term sheet for an arena lease<\/a> in exchange for millions in public funds. The state of Oregon has already committed $365 million, contingent on the city\u2019s approval of $120 million and Multnomah County\u2019s contribution of $88 million.<\/p>\n

The city council will vote on the term sheet Aug. 12. If an agreement isn\u2019t forged, the concern is that the Blazers will lose the funding and perhaps begin looking for another city in which to play. The current lease expires Oct. 11, 2030.<\/p>\n

Before Thursday, the 12-member city council said it had been left in the dark by the Blazers<\/a>, who have been reluctant to show the scope and depth of the renovation project. The council has not been shown plans, renderings or even told in general terms what the project will entail.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Why the Portland Trail Blazers traded for Ja Morant<\/div>\n
Esfandiar Baraheni and Jeshua Kidd<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
{“@context”:”https:\/\/schema.org”,”@type”:”VideoObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/bd3eqEs2svbaaWh\/”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/bd3eqEs2svbaaWh\/”,”name”:”Why the Portland Trail Blazers traded for Ja Morant”,”description”:”The Portland Trail Blazers just landed Ja Morant in a big trade. Es Baraheni breaks down what that means for the team. “,”uploadDate”:”2026-06-29T22:37:38.914Z”,”duration”:”PT1M14S”,”thumbnailUrl”:”https:\/\/cdn-media.theathletic.com\/video-stream\/auto-thumbnail\/bd3eqEs2svbaaWh\/hKGXFlTaUL0M.0000000.jpg”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/private\/video-stream-sources\/hKGXFlTaUL0M.mp4″,”transcript”:”The Portland Trail Blazers have traded for John Morant. The John Morant saga in Memphis is finally over. There’s 4 questions that immediately pop out in my mind. The first thing is, how do he and Damian Lillard work together? Not to mention the Blazers have a stacked backcourt situation between Damian Lillard, Drew Holiday, and Scoop Henderson. What does this acquisition mean for All of them. How much do the Portland Trail Blazers believe that John Morant can get back to that All-Star level that he was? John Morant is undoubtedly one of the best passers in the NBA, and he used to be one of the best drivers in all of basketball. If you were to ever get back to that level, the combination of him and Danny Adia would make the Trail Blazers one of the best driving teams in all of the NBA. And the third question I have is, what does this all mean for Scoot Henderson? What does this mean for his future as a Portland Trail Blazer with some contract decisions coming up? But overall, this is a good swing for the Portland Trail Blazers who were able to get off of Jeremy Grant’s contract, all while adding a very intriguing piece in Morant that maybe if it all works out, can work out very well for Portland.”,”ineligibleRegion”:[“BI”,”BY”,”CD”,”CF”,”CU”,”IQ”,”IR”,”KP”,”LB”,”LY”,”ML”,”NI”,”RU”,”SD”,”SO”,”SS”,”SY”,”UA”,”VE”,”YE”,”ZW”],”publisher”:{“@type”:”NewsMediaOrganization”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/#publisher”,”name”:”The Athletic”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/”,”foundingDate”:”2016-01-25″,”logo”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”url”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”creditText”:”The Athletic”,”height”:”60″,”width”:”435″},”publishingPrinciples”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/edit-guidelines\/”,”sameAs”:”https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Athletic”},”author”:[{“@type”:”Person”,”name”:”Esfandiar Baraheni and Jeshua Kidd”}]}<\/p>\n
\n
\n