Blazers Unleash Chaotic Morant-Lillard Backcourt in Friday Lineup

The Portland Trail Blazers are officially rolling out the most chaotic starting five in the NBA this Friday. According to Underdog NBA, Portland will start Ja Morant, Damian Lillard, Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, and Donovan Clingan.

Starting Morant and Lillard together is the kind of idea that looks brilliant on a whiteboard until you remember they only play with one basketball. It is a nightmare for opposing defenses, but it also forces two guys who need the ball to breathe to figure out how to share it.

Lillard is returning from a ruptured Achilles that cost him all of last season, while Morant is trying to bounce back from his own derailed campaigns. Throwing them into the same backcourt is a massive swing for a franchise desperate to find an identity.

Then there is the frontcourt, which is its own special brand of weird. Avdija and Clingan are supposed to be the future in Portland, but they currently carry a minus-2.3 net rating when sharing the floor. The Blazers are mathematically losing minutes when their best wing and rim protector play together.

That leaves Camara as the designated driver for this lineup. He averaged 11.3 points and 1.5 steals in 78 starts previously and is basically out there to play defense while the guards take turns launching from the logo.

For anyone looking at player props or usage rates for Friday, trying to project the math on this group is a complete coin flip. The volume is going to be heavily concentrated, but guessing who gets the hot hand is a massive gamble.

Portland is coming off a 128-118 loss to the Golden State Warriors and desperately needs to find a rhythm. We will see if this high-variance experiment actually clicks on Friday before the Blazers pack up and head to Sacramento to play the Sacramento Kings this weekend.