Former Trail Blazer Darnell Valentine, was brought on board in late September of 2004 to be the team's Director of Player Programs. Darnell will help implement the franchise's goal of overall player development by providing support on and off the court for every member of the team.

For the past 10 years, Darnell served as a Regional Representative for the National Basketball Players Association. He helped facilitate NBPA player development meetings, worked on the NBA All-Star Game player's meetings and the NBA player's annual summer meeting and participated in the Top 100 High School Players' Camp sponsored by the NBPA.

Darnell played his college basketball at the University of Kansas where he was a three-time Academic All-American and was a member of the 1980 Olympic men's basketball team. Selected by the Trail Blazers in the first round (16th pick overall) of the 1981 NBA Draft, Darnell spent 4 1/2 years in a Trail Blazers uniform. In 300 regular season games with Portland, he averaged 9.8ppg, 2.3rpg and 5.4apg. Darnell also played for the L.A. Clippers and the Cleveland Cavaliers during his 10-year NBA career. He owns career averages of 8.7ppg, 2.1rpg and 5.0apg in 620 NBA contests. After completing his NBA career, Darnell played three seasons in the Italian Basketball League.

He has been involved with the Trail Blazers Alumni Team and various community sponsored youth basketball clinics as well as serving as a motivational speaker at various schools and community organizations.