The Portland Trail Blazers are expected to open the 2026 NBA Playoffs against the San Antonio Spurs, and one proposed defensive answer is already aimed at Victor Wembanyama. On Friday, a Blazers Edge discussion argued that Portland should try putting one of its smallest and oldest players on the 22-year-old, 7-foot-4 center.
The idea is not about matching size with size. It is about using disruption, leverage and a body Wembanyama has not seen often enough from Portland this season. The Spurs star sat out all three regular-season meetings between the teams, but he still enters the postseason as one of the league’s most difficult assignments after leading the NBA with 3.1 blocks per game and averaging 25.0 points. He scored 30 or more points 18 times in 65 appearances.
The case for the approach is rooted in what Portland just showed against another star big man. In a 137-132 overtime loss to Denver on April 6, the Trail Blazers sometimes put Jrue Holiday, who is officially listed at 6-foot-4, on Nikola Jokic when they could set their defense after made baskets or dead balls. They used that alignment to start the game and again after halftime, with Donovan Clingan helping behind Holiday when Jokic backed him down.
That alignment did not solve everything. It did, however, show Portland is willing to take a calculated risk with a smaller defender if the rest of the scheme is ready to help. The strategy broke down late against Denver when the Blazers were forced to help on Jokic and Aaron Gordon hit a corner 3-pointer in overtime, a reminder that even a sensible plan can crack if the rotations are a step late.
Holiday will turn 36 during June’s NBA Finals, which makes him an unlikely answer to a player with Wembanyama’s reach and mobility if Portland ever needed a full-time matchup. But the proposal is less about who wins a wrestle and more about whether toumani camara, or a similar smaller, experienced defender, can make Wembanyama work for his space and make the Spurs prove they can punish the mismatch. The Blazers’ Denver tape suggests Portland is at least willing to try that kind of move when the game demands it.
With the playoffs ahead and a first-round meeting with San Antonio expected, the question is not whether Wembanyama will score. It is whether Portland can find a lineup that slows him long enough to keep the rest of the series from tilting around him.
