The sale of the Trail Blazers to Tom Dundon will take place in multiple stages over the next few years, sources with knowledge of the situation tell Alex Schiffer of Front Office Sports.
After Dundon officially signed a purchase agreement last month, the expectation is that the sale will close in March and he’ll become the team’s majority owner at that time. According to Schiffer, a second transaction will occur at a later date, with Dundon buying the remaining shares in the team from the Allen estate at that time.
A source who spoke to Front Office Sports compared the deal to the Celtics’ sale, in which William Chisholm took over a controlling interest in the franchise earlier this year but isn’t expected to buy the remaining stake until 2028. This structure had been anticipated for the Blazers’ sale, with reporting on the initial tentative agreement suggesting that the $4.25 billion valuation of the franchise was a “blended” figure based on two separate projected payments.
Dundon and Sheel Tyle, who will be a minority stakeholder in the new ownership group, attended the team’s regular season opener in Portland on Wednesday, notes Jason Quick of The Athletic. The schedule began with a loss to the division-rival Timberwolves, though the team suffered a greater loss on Thursday, when head coach Chauncey Billups was arrested and placed on leave after being accused of helping to rig illegal poker games backed by the mafia.
[RELATED: Tiago Splitter Takes Over As Blazers’ Head Coach]
We have more from around the Northwest:
- Thunder guard Alex Caruso entered the NBA’s concussion protocol after Tuesday’s win over Houston and will have to go through the return-to-participation protocol and show he’s symptom-free before he’s cleared to return, per the team (Twitter link via Rylan Stiles of SI.com). Caruso will be inactive for Thursday’s NBA Finals rematch in Indiana.
- Coming into the season, no team was projected to have a lower win total than the Jazz, so it came as a surprise when they ran out to a 37-point lead in a blowout win over the Clippers in Wednesday’s season opener. Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune shares his takeaways from a memorable start to the season, noting that 2024 first-round pick Cody Williams is out of the rotation but Utah still showed how its youth can be an asset rather than a liability. “We need to reframe that in our brains,” head coach Will Hardy said after his team beat the much older Clippers. “If we’re a little short on experience, we can still be high on energy.”
- In an interesting feature story for The Denver Post, Bennett Durando details how the connection between executive VP of player personnel Jon Wallace and star guard Jamal Murray is emblematic of the reinvigorated Nuggets, who feel “more like a team,” in the words of Aaron Gordon, following the organizational upheaval which saw Denver part with its head coach and GM with just three games remaining in the 2024/25 regular season. Wallace, whom Durando describes as the Nuggets’ new co-general manager alongside executive VP of basketball operations Ben Tenzer, has long had a close relationship with Murray and challenged him to be a more consistent leader this summer. “It’s like, ‘All right, how do you turn up the mental level? What’s the small percentage that makes you a little bit better, that helps you kind of reinvent yourself or unlock another level of your attack?’” Wallace told The Post. “… That was the whole thing behind this summer. ‘I want you to be vocal, because when you’re vocal, you’re engaged, and when you’re engaged, your teammates look to you, and they revere you, and they respect you.’“
- Nuggets forward Cameron Johnson learned resilience from his father and by extension his late grandmother. It’s a quality he believes will help him as he works to get comfortable both on and off the court in Denver, writes Quick of The Athletic. Johnson’s new teammates and head coach have nothing but good things to say about him, and are confident the 29-year-old will eventually find his groove in the team’s read-and-react offense. “There is a fine balance between him just fitting in, which he is trying to do right now, and then him also just being himself, and knowing that the guys will be OK with that,” said coach David Adelman. “You know, it’s that way with Aaron and Jamal. They’ll play our way — cut, move and screen — but they will also get into their bag and go one-on-one, and that’s OK because they’re really talented players. I think Cam will get there once he has more experience with these guys.”
Rory Maher contributed to this post.
Nuggets did far better than Warriors this summer
Key offseason signings and trades (Summer 2025)
Cameron Johnson:
Jonas Valanciunas: Received in a trade with the Sacramento Kings for Dario Šarić.
Tim Hardaway Jr.: Signed a veteran minimum contract.
Bruce Brown: Re-signed on a one-year contract.
They also gave up an unprotected first 7 years from now.
Denver was one of my easiest under (53.5) candidates for this season. Mostly because I don’t believe in their new coach. Also, they are never a high regular season win team, even with peak Jokic. 54 wins is their ceiling, imo. I don’t see them winning 56-58 games even if everything falls into place.
Some others that many don’t agree with:
Atlanta is a big under for me. Because of Trae. I was low on him going into the season. And he looked even worse in their loss last night than he did last year, and last year, he wasn’t stellar either. All-star selection, whatever, it’s just a popularity vote. I watched that Toronto game, and my thoughts always were “Atlanta are going to do better if Jalen or somebody else handles the ball, and if Trae is taken off the court”.
Detroit is an over. I think they have a big chance to be what Houston were in 24-25. Somehow, I have more belief in them than in Orlando. Coaching is a big reason, I like what I see from their HC. And players too. Cade is awesome and has it figured out already; Ausar is what every coach wants and has a ridiculously high ceiling, which he might get close to rather soon; Holland is one of the best picks from 2024 imo, I’d take him top-3 in redraft, probably; Stewart, Duren, Tobias are all winning players. One things that bothers me is the 3-pt shooting they had from Beasley. I don’t think Duncan Robinson will give it to them. Don’t like that signing at all. Maybe Ivey?
Dallas is an under. Mostly because of AD being an injury risk, after which they can transition into “tank and get Cooper a buddy in the lottery” mode very quickly. And pretend that it was the plan all the way, and “defence wins champions” and all that never happened. But they don’t even need AD’s injury. They can do it anyway, trade away their players.
I agree on Denver’s under, I think it’s going to be a lot like last season with the 2-8 teams being just a few games apart.
Hawks were embarrassed at home, even with Porzingis and Okongwu playing pretty well, because they shot terribly and couldn’t defend at all – the Raptors shot 57% as a team, although they stunk from the 3 pt line (6-25).
I didn’t watch, do you think the Raptors are actually going to be significantly better this season, or was the 20-pt win just a case of the Hawks being bad?
I was watching mostly 2 players on Atlanta’s team from last night’s game – Trae and Risacher. When I watch games, I often concentrate on particular players or particular aspects, not on the game as a whole, not as entertainment. So I didn’t pay attention to much to what Toronto was doing, if that’s possible when watching a game of basketball, lol. But they were very well drilled, came in with a clear plan and made Atlanta play their game from minute 1. And they did it the whole game, including bench players, never slowing down. It felt 100% like a coach’s win, not a win by one player or a couple of players. Which is always a great sign.
I don’t have a strong opinion on Toronto from the previous season. Can’t say I watched them a lot.
They are not hopeless, sure. But how good are they? It looked like they were very well prepared for the season, and that the coach did a good job in camp.
Personel-wise. Barnes, imo, is a proper player and not a “had 1 soft ALL-Star selection, but will never figure it out” type of guy. I don’t hate him being on the 25% max. I’m of a high opinion of many players from that 2021 class, and Barnes is one of them.
RJ Barret. I think there’s a proper player in there, too, but will it click for him? Toronto’s coaches will have to unlock it.
Ingram, I was never fond of. I was saying I’d rather have Kuminga, and I was doing that in March when Jonathan just came back from injury and was awful, lol. Many people didn’t like the trade Toronto made for Ingram, and I’m one of them.
Poelt is a proper center, and he deserved the contract he got. It’s hard to be a good basketball team without quality play at C. But with him, it won’t be a problem for Toronto. If he plays like he did last season, he certainly won’t hold them back.
Quickley, don’t ask, I have no idea.
I liked the signing of Mamukelashvili, they should have given him more guaranteed years. Gradey Dick is a player. The rookie they drafted this year is interesting, I don’t hate that pick, even though many called it a stretch to take him at #9.
So there are good players there.
Many young players in that group; they are not a known quantity. Only a couple have more than 5 years of NBA experience. With a team like that, it will come down to coaching. I’m not of the school that “players naturally develop and peak at 27” or “young players need experienced vets to guide them”. For me, it’s about the coach and his staff. And Toronto have a reputation for having competent people working individually with players, and for identifying good head coaches.
Do I think Toronto will win more games this season than last? Yes. Significantly more, to get themselves into the playoffs? Probably not. But Atlanta will likely not make it, imo, and Boston, Indiana and Philly are hard to gauge. So that leaves opportunities.
Toronto looked better last year after assembling their current group.
Nuggets are Thunders biggest threat. I think they are even going into season. I’ll take Nuggets in playoffs. They have young vets who want to win badly. That will come into focus in playoffs.
Tonight is a good test for Warriors. To see how they deal with bigger teams that are good. If Warriors don’t shoot well. They will run out of Kleenex in the Bay Area AGAIN …….
Brilliant analysis on Denver, Atlanta, Detroit, and Dallas because I agree with you on all of them :–)
Prediction: this will be Trae Young’s last season in Atlanta.
NBA Ranking: The Top 26 centers for 2025-26
Frank Urbina
Hoops Hype
link to hoopshype.com
There are basketball people who want to play Towns at PF. Then you got fans that think that makes him a 4.
Towns is the closest thing to Jokic at Center. Similar games. Both can play on perimeter. See that’s what makes him an All Star East starting Center. You don’t replace your best positional player. You help him by using the right players around him. Like Denver has done with Jokic.
This gambling thing is dumb. It’s just to distract people from the fact that our Pres didn’t tell anyone before demolishing 1/3rd of the White House this week and that he’s all over the Epstein files.
Maybe we shouldn’t have legalized sports gambling.