Blazers Head To SoCal For An Early Afternoon Matchup With The Lakers

ALL TIME: Lakers lead, 128-109

PORTLAND HOME: Trail Blazers lead, 86-32

LOS ANGELES HOME: Lakers lead, 77-43

•The Trail Blazers and Lakers will meet four times in the regular season, with the first matchup occurring in Los Angeles on Oct. 23.

• LAST SEASON: The Trail Blazers and Lakers tied the 2021-22 season series, 2-2.

• In 32 career games against the Lakers, Damian Lillard has scored 30-plus points 15 times, including five of his last seven outings.

• Jusuf Nurkic has recorded double-doubles in his last seven games against the Lakers.

SHOOTERS SHOOT: Damian Lillard has now moved into the top 10 all-time for career 3’s made and moved passed LeBron James for 9th all-time. He’s 4th among active players:

SCORING 40 and 30: Damian Lillard scored his 41 points in the overtime win over Phoenix on Friday night. It was the 41st career game in which Dame has scored 40 points or more. It also becomes the 200th occurrence in which Dame as scored at least 30 points or more in a game. Lillard continues to widen the margin for most career games in which he's scored 40+ points and 30+ points in franchise history.

CHASING HISTORY: Damian Lillard entered the 2022-23 season with 17,510 career points. He has scored 61 points on the young season and needs 470 points to pass Clyde Drexler and become the leading scorer in franchise history.

THE SHARPER IMAGE: Trail Blazers Rookie Shaedon Sharpe tallied 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting including 3-of-3 from distance. Sharpe is the first Blazer to score in double figures in his NBA debut since Jake Layman (17) in 2016. He's also the third Blazer in history to hit three or more 3-FG in their NBA debuts.

Most 3PM by a Blazer in NBA debut:

5......J. Layman (11/1/16 vs. GSW)
3......R. Fernandez (10/28/08 vs. LAL)
3......S. Sharpe (10/19/22 vs. SAC)

SCORING 40 and 30: Damian Lillard scored his 41 points in
the overtime win over Phoenix on Friday night. It was the 41st
career game in which Dame has scored 40 points or more. It
also becomes the 200th occuranace in which Dame as scored
at least 30 points or more in a game. Lillard continues to widen
the margin for most career games in which he's scored 40+
points and 30+ points in franchise history.

GRANTED: Jerami Grant led the Trail Blazers in scoring with 23 points. His 23 points are the most in a Blazer debut since Josh Hart, who also scored 23 on February 12th of last season against the Knicks. Grant is the ninth player in Blazer history to record 23 or more points in their Blazer debut.

A LITTLE HART: Among all NBA players 6'7" and under, Josh Hart ranked fifth in rebounds per game during the 2021-22 season (7.2) while Nassir Little ranked 10th (5.6).

17 AGAIN: Trail Blazers rookie guard Shaedon Sharpe scored 27 points (10-13 FG, 1-4 3-PT, 6-6 FT) to go with two rebounds, one assist, three steals and two blocks against Maccabi Ra'anana on October 6. The last player as young as Sharpe (19 years, 129 days on Oct. 6) to score 27-plus points in a preseason game was Zion Williamson (19 years, 95 days) who finished with 29 points against Chicago on Oct. 9, 2019. 

CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE: The Trail Blazers signed guard Gary Payton II on July 6, adding a 2022 NBA Champion to the roster. Payton averaged career highs of 7.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals for the Warriors last season. He recorded three steals in both Game 5 and Game 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals.

BOSNIAN BEAST: Jusuf Nurkic averaged a career-best 11.1 rebounds per game in 2021-22. He recorded 30 double-doubles over the course of the season, including a career-high seven straight from February 2-14. Nurkic was one of eight NBA players to average at least 15.0 points and 11.0 rebounds in 2021-22.

Trail Blazers 113, Suns 111 -- October 21, 2022 -- Moda Center -- Game #2 (2-0, 1-0 Home)
The Trail Blazers secured a 113-111 overtime win in their home opener against Phoenix on Oct. 21 … Damian Lillard finished with a game-high 41 points (12-25 FG, 5-12 3- PT, 12-12 FT) to go along with seven rebounds, three assists and one block in 43 minutes … Jusuf Nurkic tallied 20 points (6-10 FG, 0-1 3-PT, 8-9 FT), 17 rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block in 35 minutes … Anfernee Simons logged 16 points (5-17 FG, 2-8 3-PT, 4-4 FT), three rebounds, three assists and one steal in 42 minutes … Devin Booker led the Suns with a team-high 33 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists … Chris Paul put up 10 points and 12 assists for Phoenix.

Trail Blazers 115, Kings 108 -- October 19, 2022 -- Golden1 Center -- Game #1 (1-0, 1-0 Away)
The Trail Blazers defeated the Sacramento Kings by a final score of 115-108 in the team's first game of the 2022-23 regular season … Jerami Grant recorded a team-high 23 points (5-11 FG, 3-3 3-PT, 10-13 FT), eight rebounds, one assist and two steals in 35 minutes … Anfernee Simons tallied 22 points (9-22 FG, 3-10 3-PT, 1-2 FT), three rebounds, two assists and two steals in 36 minutes … Damian Lillard logged 20 points (5-18 FG, 1-8 3-PT, 9-9 FT), four rebounds, eight assists and two steals in 37 minutes … Josh Hart posted 19 points (8-11 FG, 3-3 FT), seven rebounds, five assists and one steal in 38 minutes … De'Aaron Fox led the way for the Kings with a game-high 33 points (12-21 FG, 5-9 3-PT, 4-5 FT) to go along with seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals in 35 minutes.

Warriors 131, Trail Blazers. 98 -- October 11, 2022 -- Chase Center -- Preseason
Portland fell to Golden State by a final score of 131-98 in the team's final preseason game … Shaedon Sharpe finished with a team-high 17 points (7-19 FG, 0-3 3-PT, 3-4 FT) in 38 minutes off the bench to go along with six rebounds … Jusuf Nurkic recorded 16 points (2-6 FG, 0-1 3-PT, 12-14 FT), four rebounds and one assist in 17 minutes … Anfernee Simons tallied 12 points (4-10 FG, 2-5 3-PT, 2-3 FT), one rebound and four assists in 21 minutes … Jared Rhoden chipped in 10 points in 13 minutes off the bench … JaMychal Green and Moses Moody led the way for Golden State with 20 points each.

Kings 126, Trail Blazers 94 -- October 9, 2022, Golden1 Center -- Preseason
The Trail Blazers fell to 1-3 for the preseason after losing to the Kings in Sacramento, 94-126 … Sacramento connected on 21 three-pointers (of 45) while Portland hit 10- of-29 three-point attempts … Jerami Grant led the way for the Trail Blazers, finishing with 17 points (5-8 FG, 2-3 3-PT, 5-5 FT), one rebound, two assists, two steals and two blocks … Anfernee Simons had 16 points, shooting 5-of-9 from the field (4-8 3-PT, 2-2 FT) to go with two rebounds and three assists … Jusuf Nurkic chipped in 14 points, nine rebounds and one block … Shaedon Sharpe was the high man off the bench for Portland, finishing with eight points and three rebounds … For the Kings, Keegan Murray led a balanced scoring attack with 16 points (5-6 FG, 5-6 3-PT, 1-2 FT) to go with three rebounds, one assist and two steals.

Trail Blazers 138, Maccabi Ra’Anana 85 -- October 6, 2022 -- Moda Center -- Preseason
Portland secured its first win of the 2022-23 preseason, defeating Maccabi Ra'anana by a score of 138-85 … Rookie guard Shaedon Sharpe led the way for the Trail Blazers, finishing with 27 points off the bench on 10-of-13 shooting (1-4 3-PT, 6-6 FT) to go with two rebounds, one assist and two blocks … Keon Johnson recorded a double-double for the Trail Blazers, logging 18 points (7-13 FG, 4-5 3-PT), five rebounds, 11 assists and three steals … Jabari Walker chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench … In his first preseason action, Trendon Watford logged 10 points (4-4 FG, 2-3 FT), two rebounds, three assists and one steal … Norris Cole led the way for Maccabi Ra'anana, finishing with 19 points (8-15 FG, 3-7 3-PT), six assists and three steals in 31 minutes.

Gary Payton II (Return to Competition Reconditioning), Trendon Watford (right hip), Olivier Sarr (right wrist) are OUT for Portland's Oct. 21 game in Los Angeles.

As for the Lakers, Thomas Bryant (left UCL repair), Dennis Schröder (right UCL repair) and Cole Swider (right foot soreness) are out while Troy Brown Jr. (low back soreness), Anthony Davis (low back tightness) and LeBron James (left foot soreness) are probable.

All Portland Trail Blazers regular season and preseason games will be broadcast on the Trail Blazers Broadcasting flagship station, Rip City Radio 620 AM. Travis Demers begins his fourth full season providing play-by-play commentary for all home and away games, with Michael Holton adding commentary. On television, ROOT SPORTS PLUS will air 81 Trail Blazers regular season games featuring Kevin Calabro calling play-by-play, Lamar Hurd providing analysis and Brooke Olzendam reporting from the sideline. Between ROOT SPORTS PLUS, TNT and ESPN, all 82 regular season games will be televised. For all viewing options, visitwww.trailblazers.com/watch.