We are back to our new off-season series Blazers vs Blazers with an intriguing and controversial match for our second part.
I’m talking about two Portland Trail Blazers centers who were traded for each other just a season ago: current Blazers center Deandre Ayton and current Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic, who played for Portland from 2017-23.
As a reminder, this series pits current and former Blazers players against each other and simply asks the question: Who was the best when he wore a Blazers uniform? To clarify, here’s another way to look at the question: If you were an NBA general manager building a team from scratch, which two players would you want on your roster?
THE first match pitted current Portland forward Jerami Grant against former Portland forward Nicolas Batum. It sparked a lively debate in the Blazer’s Edge comments section with mixed results among readers. Before we dive into today’s matchup and acknowledge some of the variables that make this comparison a little less than ideal (but still ripe for discussion), Click here to review the full framework and ground rules for this series to make sure we’re all on the same page.
Today’s match
Ayton and Nurkic are both effective and talented NBA centers, but they both suffer from inconsistency and flaws. They play the same position and were traded for each other in the Damian Lillard mega-trade last summer, so they will naturally be compared to each other for the foreseeable future. They also have different strengths and weaknesses, as well as some overlap in their games, which makes for an interesting basketball debate. Ayton is more mobile and has a very powerful mid-range game that Nurkic has never been able to add to his arsenal, while Nurkic is much more of an offensive facilitator and screener than Ayton. They are both great rebounders who patrol the paint well on defense. Yet despite their massive size, both players have at times relied on finesse around the basket — much to the fury of Blazers fans.
Notably, this series compares players exclusively during their tenure with the Blazers, making this comparison somewhat difficult. Nurkic played in Portland for over six seasons, a span that included several peaks and valleys for Nurkic and the team as a whole. In contrast, Ayton only played one season for a struggling Blazers team that included individual ups and downs as he acclimated to his new team, so the data is limited on his side. Additionally, it’s difficult to examine this debate without considering contracts. Ayton played on a massive contract during his short tenure with the Blazers, commanding over $30 million per year. Meanwhile, Nurkic played on a four-year, $48 million contract from 2018-2022 before signing a four-year, $70 million deal in 2022. As a general manager looking at roster construction, you have to consider the relative costs of players.
While these factors make a direct comparison to the Blazers difficult, I think a conversation around these two is worth having. After the first season post-trade, it will serve as a formal vantage point to see what the Blazer’s Edge community thinks of Ayton and his predecessor.
Editor’s Note: Going forward, we’ll mostly be comparing former Blazers players to each other due to their youth and the lack of data on the rest of Portland’s current roster. Let us know some fun matchups that you think might spark some entertaining debates!
In this corner…Deandre Ayton!
Passage with the Blazers:2023-24 to present (55 matches)
Career stats per game with the Blazers:16.7 points, 11.1 rebounds (3.2 offensive), 1.6 assists, 1.8 turnovers, 1.0 steals, 0.8 blocks, 57% shooting on 13.6 field goal attempts per game, 82.3% shooting from the free throw line on 1.4 attempts per game, 10% shooting from the 3-point line on 0.4 attempts per game.
In this corner…Jusuf Nurkic!
Passage with the Blazers:End of 2016-17 season to 2022-23 season (324 games)
Career stats per game with the Blazers:14.4 points, 9.8 rebounds (2.7 offensive), 2.8 assists, 2.4 turnovers, 1.0 steals, 1.2 blocks, 51.3% shooting on 11.0 field goal attempts per game, 69.3% shooting from the free throw line on 4.1 attempts per game, 29.8% shooting from the 3-point line on 0.8 attempts per game.
Career bests in stats per game while with the Blazers (minimum 25 games played):15.6 points, 11.1 rebounds (including 3.4 offensive), 3.4 assists, 2.6 turnovers, 1.1 steals, 1.4 blocks, 53.5% shooting on 10.7 field goal attempts per game, 77.3% free throws on 5.1 attempts per game, 36.1% 3-point shooting on 2.3 attempts per game.
Who do you have?
So, Blazers Edge readers, who did you pick? Who was the better player on the Blazers between Deandre Ayton and Jusuf Nurkic? Also, do you think Ayton will improve in his second season with the Blazers, or produce similar results to his first year?
Let us know your answer in the comments below!
