Trail Blazers’ Matisse Thybulle Exercises $11.5M Player Option For 2025-26

Portland Trail Blazers guard Matisse Thybulle has exercised his $11.55 million contract option for the 2025-26 season, keeping him with the team for at least one more year.

Matisse Thybulle’s 2024-25 Season Was Plagued By Injuries

Thybulle signed a three-year, $33 million deal with Portland during the 2023 offseason that included a player option worth $11.55 million. The 28-year-old had until the end of the day on Tuesday to make the decision.

The 6-foot-5 Thybulle was limited to just 15 games in 2024-25 due to injuries. He underwent a procedure in October, just before the start of the regular season, to address inflammation in his right knee.

However, during his ramp-up process, he also sustained a right ankle sprain in late November. That ultimately set back his recovery and prevented him from making his season debut until March 16.

In those 15 games (five starts), Thybulle averaged 7.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 2.2 steals, and 20.8 minutes per contest while shooting 47.7% from the field and 43.8% from 3-point territory.

Trail Blazers Traded Anfernee Simons To Celtics For Jrue Holiday

This news also came a day after Portland traded Anfernee Simons and two second-round draft picks to the Boston Celtics for Jrue Holiday, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Portland had briefly acquired Holiday in the trade that sent All-Star guard Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks prior to the 2023 season before re-routing him to Boston.

Despite trading Simons to Boston in a deal for Holiday, the Blazers still have a significant amount of expiring money on their 2025-26 cap, with Thybulle joining Deandre Ayton ($35.6 million) and Robert Williams ($13.3 million).

In 62 games (all starts) with Boston last season, Holiday averaged 11.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.1 steals, and 30.6 minutes per contest while shooting 44.3% from the floor and 35.3% from beyond the arc.

Portland Will Shop Three Players

The Blazers will reportedly “now [turn] their attention to the possibility of making further moves, with Deandre Ayton, Robert Williams III, and Jerami Grant on the trade block, sources said,” wrote Brett Siegel of Clutch Points.

Ayton, the No. 1 overall pick by the Phoenix Suns in the 2018 draft, never reached his full potential at the NBA level. Grant and Williams, meanwhile, are veterans who can bolster a team’s defense, but both of them played under 50 games last season.

Portland owes Chicago a top-14-protected first-round pick with the pick’s protection extending to 2028, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The Blazers have the 2029 most- and least-favorable first of their own between Boston and Milwaukee, and have the right to swap first-rounders with Milwaukee in 2028 and 2030.

The swap rights in 2028 are eliminated if the Trail Blazers send Chicago their first that year. Portland has four first-round picks available to trade. They also have three seconds after trading two to Boston for Holiday.