Shaedon Sharpe Plowed Forward in Third NBA Season

The Portland Trail Blazers are dipping their toes into the 2025 offseason, preparing for the NBA Draft Lottery, free agency and trade season while evaluating a young, but growing, roster. In these early weeks of the summer we’re doing the same, reviewing the performance of Portland’s players over the past year.

Earlier this week we started the process with point guard Scoot Henderson. Today we’re going to look at one of Henderson’s bright young co-stars, shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe. How did the third-year wing do this season? Take a look.

The Good

Sharpe made three significant leaps this year.

• He started 52 games and played 72. Both of those numbers matter. Injuries held Sharpe to only 32 games total in his sophomore season. Durability was a question mark. 72 games is a healthy number. He bounced back from a mid-season benching for defensive issues, earning the right to 31 minutes per game (and those 52 starts). Stepping up, Sharpe became one of Head Coach Chauncey Billups’ go-to options, just a minute or so per game behind team leaders Anfernee Simons and Toumani Camara.
• Sharpe’s overall field goal percentage bounced back to 45.2% after dropping to a dangerously-low 40.6% the prior season. That’s still shy of the excellent 47.2% rate he registered in his rookie season, but back then he was making cuts off of Damian Lillard, catching the ball and converting for layups or dunks. His offense was more varied this year and he responded reasonably well. He shot 55.7% on two-point attempts, a fantastic number for a guard. His 47% success rate for offense between 10-16 feet was also eye-opening. Sharpe showed he has a viable mid-range game if he’s allowed to use it.
• His scoring rose to 18.5 points per game, 2.6 points higher than his 15.9 average last year. That rates out to 21.3 points per 36 minutes, 28.8 per 100 possessions. That’s not going to put him among the league leaders, but considering he was working with Simons, Jerami Grant, and Deni Avdija, all competing for touches, it’s not too shabby. He’s showing signs of becoming the scorer he was projected to be when he got drafted as an athletic wunderkind three years ago.

Also of note, 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game are decent numbers for a player with Sharpe’s job description. That production is roughly in line with last season’s but well above his rookie year. Sharpe has the potential to become a complete player, not just a scorer. That would certainly bolster his claim to a spot in the starting lineup in years to come.

The Bad

Not everything is rosy in Sharpe Land, however. A few speed bumps impeded his rise to relevance.

• Though he shot more three-pointers per game than last year (4.9 vs. 3.6), Sharpe made only 31.1% of his attempts, down from 33.3% the season prior. The numbers were already bad. Dropping to a point just above 30% is not a great sign. Sharpe needs that three-pointer to fall. Not being a strong threat from distance hurts him and the team.
• As we said, Sharpe got benched for his attention to defense (or lack thereof) midseason. He recovered, but he had to. Muting one of the franchise’s potential young stars wouldn’t have been good for anybody. He wasn’t destined for the bench long-term. Given that history, calling Sharpe’s defense “unremarkable” could be seen as a compliment. But the new-look Blazers are built around 6’6-6’8 players with defensive chops. Sharpe should be like a duck in water. With Avdija and Camara at his back, one could easily imagine him flying across the court for blocks and steals in a “you hold ‘em down and I’ll beat ‘em up” kind of way. It’s just not happening.
• This follows a theme. Sharpe’s approach to the game, especially on the defensive end, continues to be a little too laid back. He goes with the game more than he changes it.
• A couple of minor observations. 2.1 turnovers per game, 3.2 per 100 possessions, isn’t bad. Several teammates rank worse. But Sharpe could stand to shave just a bit off of those numbers. Also he’s only drawing 3.2 free throws per game, 5.2 per 100 possessions. For a guy who theoretically should be getting to the bucket often, that’s not much.

The Analysis

Sharpe had a good season, not a great one.

Almost every time we analyze the Blazers, we have to parse between “Good, for Portland” and “Excellent by abstract measures”. Sharpe is no exception. He performed well given his past benchmarks, showing enough improvement to be encouraging. That did not translate into stardom, or even significance, compared to most of the league. Few teams have an athlete of Sharpe’s caliber but most of them have players better than he. Overtaking the rest of the NBA in real time, asserting dominance instead of just showing promise, will be the next big test for Shaedon.

Right now, Sharpe is like the proverbial dragon who’s ultra-strong in his own lair but vulnerable when he ventures beyond it. With ball in hand and a head of steam moving forward, Sharpe is all but unstoppable. His scoring choices range from pull-up jumper to thunderous dunk and everything in between. If he has to move laterally or backwards, he looks much weaker. That’s where turnovers and long, random heaves come into play. Sharpe’s first step isn’t good enough to get him past defenders. When he can’t get that forward clearance, he doesn’t have viable options. That’s hampering his offensive progress. And if Sharpe’s offense isn’t special, neither is he.

What’s Next

Working on those options should be one of the focus points of Sharpe’s summer. The three-pointer is the biggest one. If he can get defenders to respect him as a threat from the arc, the pressure on his first dribble eases. They’ll be up closer to him, giving him less distance to go in order to get past them into his offensive sweet spot. If defenders continue hanging back, they’re going to get up under his dribble before he can make use of it, leaving him stuck on the perimeter with nothing but bail-out shots and passes available.

Defending well enough to stay on the floor is another priority. If he can’t become a solid defender, being a disruptive one should do. But the Blazers have got to get something out of him at that end. They already know from long experience what non-defending guards do to your chances as you face good opponents in conference races and the postseason.

Sharpe isn’t at a firm fork in the road yet, but it’s approaching. Next year will be his fourth. At the end of it, he’ll become a restricted free agent. We’ll be talking about signing extensions, making qualifying offers, and matching contracts. Two years from now both he and the Blazers will be interested in his established value more than his potential.

The paths from that fork diverge radically. Down one, Sharpe becomes the kind of scoring superstar opposing teams have trouble handling. He’s bending the game to himself, freeing up teammates in the process. Down another, he becomes a 17-20-point scorer with nothing much else to distinguish him, the kind of guy the league talks about more than it fears. That’s going to be fine. He’s still going to have a career. But the Blazers won’t rise behind that Shaedon Sharpe. They’ve already fielded plenty of players of that caliber.

This team needs a star, not a curiosity. Sharpe’s gifts are unquestioned. How he develops them as a professional over the next two seasons will go a long way towards determining whether they’ve got one. Until then all we can say is, “So far, mostly, so good,” and cross our fingers that Sharpe’s growth curve becomes exponential instead of linear and doesn’t top out in the foreseeable future.