Trail Blazers' Low-Cost Morant Addition Sparks Ball-Handling Tensions as Five Teams Face Chemistry Risks Ahead of New Season

On September 9, 2026, NBA offseason roster adjustments entered the final stage, and hidden chemistry concerns began emerging across multiple teams. The Portland Trail Blazers' roster structure has drawn the most attention. After acquiring Morant at extremely low trade cost, their lineup appears upgraded on paper, but the locker room atmosphere could develop cracks at any time. The team's chemistry will directly determine how far this young squad can go in the new season.

Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns, who also completed a major offseason acquisition, failed in their Western Conference Finals pushes for two consecutive seasons. The front office used two future first-round picks to acquire an All-Star-level guard and attempted to build a new championship framework around Booker, but there is still no clear agreement on playing time distribution and usage among existing core players. Several informal workouts before training camp have reportedly revealed communication differences.

Looking back at Portland's offseason moves, they selected Clingan in the draft and then acquired Morant through a trade at almost no cost. The team had already established Avdija as the new core, while Lillard remained as the team's spirit leader and locker room presence. Morant, who had been sidelined for a long period because of off-court incidents, arrived in Portland almost as a 'loser' figure. His style requires heavy ball possession, naturally overlapping with Avdija's role as a ball-handling core, creating the toughest adjustment challenge for head coach Billups.

The Trail Blazers finished last season at 41-41 and ninth in the Western Conference, earning a playoff spot through the play-in tournament before losing 1-4 to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round. All of their offseason moves aimed to raise their ceiling, but Morant's arrival directly disrupted the previous rotation balance, according to official updates.

1. In the Trail Blazers' current starting lineup, Lillard takes on a sixth-man role as the starting point guard, Avdija holds the forward core position, and Clingan anchors the paint as the starting center. The previous system was built around Avdija's playmaking, Lillard's off-ball shooting, and Clingan's interior defense. After Morant joined, his preferred ball-handling drives and high-speed transition style require significant possession volume, making ball distribution the first conflict point.

In the first preseason starting lineup experiment, when Morant and Avdija shared the court for 12 minutes, the team's offensive efficiency was only 92, far below the 118 and 121 marks when each led the team separately. With 3:17 left in the first quarter, the two committed a passing turnover during a fast break. Camera footage later captured their interaction on the bench, with noticeably emotional body language.

During subsequent adjustments, head coach Billups tried having Morant lead the second unit. He scored 14 points in the second quarter alone and completed three consecutive speed-driven dunks, extending the lead to 12 points at one stage. However, when he and Lillard shared the court late in the game, their shot selections clearly conflicted. In the final two minutes, each forced three shots, all missing, and the Trail Blazers eventually lost the preseason game 107-112 to the Nuggets.

Morant's individual ability is unquestionable. His speed, finishing ability, and clutch scoring are among the league's best. However, his ball-dominant habits developed over recent seasons are completely incompatible with the system Portland has built over the past year. Differences in rhythm during initiation and ball movement have caused his connections with teammates to remain half a step slow, while his positioning choices often conflict with teammates' cuts.

2. Another team with a high potential internal conflict risk is the Philadelphia 76ers. During the offseason, they gave a maximum contract extension to their core guard and acquired an All-Star power forward through a sign-and-trade. Both core players require heavy possessions and low-post isolation opportunities. Each has averaged more than 90 touches per game over the past three seasons, and very few teams can accommodate two players with usage rates above 30%.

The 76ers finished last season 38-44 and 10th in the Eastern Conference, missing the playoffs. Management originally hoped the two-core combination would immediately return them to championship contention, but both players favor individual ball handling and neither is willing to sacrifice possessions for off-ball play. In previous media day interviews, neither gave a clear indication of compromise when asked about new-season ball distribution.

Their original path was for the two stars to lead a push toward the Eastern Conference top four and make a deeper playoff run through star power. However, if they begin competing for shots during practice, defensive structure will inevitably suffer, transition offense will become chaotic, and decision-making under pressure will decline with emotional swings, directly causing regular-season results to fall instead of improve.

Elsewhere, the Dallas Mavericks traded away a key interior player during the offseason and brought in two versatile forwards. The ball-dominant system built around Doncic now includes two additional forwards who also need possessions. Doncic averaged 9.2 minutes of possession time per game last season, ranking first in the league. His two new teammates are accustomed to initiating offense from the elbow area, and there is still no clear solution for dividing touches among the three. In the first training camp scrimmage, there were three awkward moments when all three stood outside asking for the ball.

The Indiana Pacers are another example. They reached the Eastern Conference semifinals last season through a high-speed transition style. During the offseason, management acquired a defensive-oriented center to improve interior strength, directly changing the small-ball fast-break system they had maintained for two years. Core guard Haliburton prefers pushing the pace, while the new center cannot match the team's speed. Communication differences appeared during several workouts, and Haliburton publicly said adjusting the pace for the new season would require more effort from the entire team, revealing dissatisfaction.

The final high-risk team is the Los Angeles Clippers. They re-signed three role players during the offseason while keeping core players Kawhi Leonard and Harden, but the fifth starting spot remains undecided. Two young forwards competing for the position have had multiple intensified physical battles in training, while role players' minutes have been significantly reduced and the competitive atmosphere has begun to change.

Currently, all five teams remain in the training camp adjustment phase and no public locker room conflicts have appeared, but all concerns are already visible. If Morant cannot control his personality and actively integrate into the existing system, Portland could trade him away at any time because he was acquired at almost no cost and carries no significant trade-cost concern.

Objectively, the dense regular-season schedule and physical demands of back-to-back games will magnify these hidden adjustment problems. If a team starts with three or even four consecutive losses, locker room emotions could erupt. Subjectively, several high-profile stars are unwilling to voluntarily sacrifice possessions, and disputes over late-game shot choices are likely to occur. This is the most realistic part of competitive sports.

The new regular season will officially begin on October 22. The first major chemistry test for these teams will arrive in the second preseason game, when all hidden issues will be exposed.

Looking at future adjustment options, Portland still has two two-way contract slots available to strengthen wing shooting. Management has also clearly stated that team atmosphere will always come before individual statistics, and any player damaging locker room unity will be removed directly.

It is unfortunate that these teams' offseason moves focused only on improving the roster on paper while overlooking that locker room chemistry is the foundation of winning. Fortunately, all teams still have nearly a month to adjust, leaving enough time to redistribute possessions and refine tactical logic.

Games are played one at a time, and details matter. The Eastern and Western Conference landscapes of the new season will take different directions depending on these teams' internal chemistry. Fans are waiting to see what these heavily assembled rosters can ultimately produce.