The Portland Trail Blazers will miss the postseason in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for a fourth straight year, second straight with Bahamian DeAndre Ayton as the starting center.

The team has a lot of uncertainties heading into the offseason, including what to do with Ayton. The Blazers will make some moves for sure, and as it relates to Ayton, will they let him ride out the final year of his contract, will they sign him to a long-term deal and try to build around him, or will they use him as trade bait in the 2025-2026 season? With Ayton set to have a cap hit of more than $30 million dollars for the Blazers next season, the latter seems more probable.

Ayton, 26, has been out of action for the last two months with a left calf strain, and although he hasn’t been officially ruled out for the season, it’s unlikely that he plays in the Blazers’ final three games of the season.

The Blazers were officially eliminated from contention for the play-in tournament of the NBA with a loss to the Chicago Bulls over the weekend.

The Blazers will finish with a losing record for a fourth straight season, missing the playoffs each time. They are in the 12th spot in the west with a 35-44 win/loss record, three games behind the Dallas Mavericks for the final play-in position with three games remaining, but they have lost the season series to the Mavericks and are therefore eliminated.

The Blazers end the season at Utah and home against the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Unless he somehow plays in any of the final three games of the season, Ayton will end 2025-2026 by averaging a double-double for a seventh straight season, despite reaching a career-low in scoring.

In the 40 games he has been available, playing about half of the season, Ayton is averaging 14.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.0 blocks per game. He has averaged a double-double since coming into the league in 2018 as a rookie out of Arizona.

Ayton was the number one overall pick of the 2018 NBA Draft, becoming the second Bahamian behind Mychal ‘Sweet Bells’ Thompson to be drafted number one overall in the NBA. Coincidentally, Thompson was drafted by the Blazers, taken number one overall in 1978.

Ayton was drafted number one overall by the Phoenix Suns out of the University of Arizona in 2018.