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London Lions at Portland Trail Blazers

Mon Oct 121:00 PM PTPortland, OR
By JR·2 min read
Trail Blazers(0-0)
Monday 10/121:00 PM

TLDR: No British club had ever shared a floor with an NBA team until now. The London Lions get Portland at the Moda Center on Monday, and Portland is showing up with Damian Lillard back and Ja Morant new to the backcourt.

MON 10/12, 1:00 PM
London Lions
Trail Blazers
(0-0)

The London Lions are the first British club to face an NBA team, visiting Portland for a preseason game at the Moda Center. The Blazers have a new coach in Micah Nori, Lillard is back and Morant is new, and they beat Golden State in their opener. Portland plays at Sacramento the next night, so how long the starters stay on the floor will shape the game more than the talent gap. No betting lines have been posted.

London Lions
  • Blazers play at Sacramento next night, so starters' minutes likely capped
  • Sochan's British ties and the Sabonis name make it a big occasion
  • First British club ever to face NBA talent
  • Facing a Lillard-Morant-Avdija core that just beat Golden State
Portland Trail Blazers
  • Avdija scored 23 on 9-of-13 in the opener
  • Lillard back and Morant added to the backcourt
  • Opened the preseason by beating Golden State 123-118
  • Back-to-back with a Tuesday night game at Sacramento
  • Nori's first preseason, so rotation still unsettled
  • Morant-Lillard pairing only 1 game old

This is a preseason game, and the Blazers will treat it like one. The stakes still aren't zero. The Lions are the first club from the United Kingdom to play an NBA franchise, and it counts on Portland's official preseason schedule. For one Monday afternoon in Oregon, the BBL's best-known club gets measured against the real thing.

Portland comes in with a lot of new parts. Micah Nori, previously an assistant in Minnesota, is in his first preseason as head coach. The front office sent Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to Memphis for Morant, so the backcourt now pairs Morant with a returning Lillard. Jeremy Sochan, who developed in Britain, also signed in Portland this summer, which gives the visitors a familiar face on the other bench.

The opener went well. Portland beat Golden State 123-118 at the Moda Center behind 23 points from Deni Avdija on 9-of-13 shooting, and Lillard added 15 in his return. The early reports say the Blazers like Morant's attitude. A couple of good weeks in October don't settle anything, but it beats the alternative.

Watch the schedule more than the scoreboard. Portland finishes the preseason at Sacramento on Tuesday night and at Golden State on Friday, so a 1:00 PM PT tip on Monday comes the day before a road game. Nori hasn't said how he'll split the minutes. Still, with a back-to-back right after, expect the second half to belong to the end of the bench, the two-way guys and the camp invites.

The Lions have some history with Portland too. Head coach Tautvydas Sabonis is the son of Arvydas Sabonis, a Blazers great, and the brother of Kings center Domantas Sabonis. The Moda Center crowd will know the name before the opening tip.

Nobody should expect a close game. The Lions are a European club team facing an NBA roster that ended a 4-year playoff drought last season and then traded for an All-Star guard. They can win the afternoon anyway by keeping it competitive while Portland's regulars are still on the floor, and by giving British basketball a game it can point back to.

London Lions at Portland Trail Blazers — London Lions Make British History Against Lillard, Morant and the Blazers | Polymarket Odds · Barstool Bush