The Portland Trail Blazers suffered a heartbreaking exit of their star point guard, Damian Lillard this offseason. However, the team did get one of the best players in this year’s draft. But this preseason game wasn’t about Portland’s latest draft pick but about this 24-year-old prodigy instead. 

Leading the league in preseason points, Jonathan Kuminga ended up getting overshadowed by this Blazers guard. Not just Kuminga but even the Jazz’s leading scorer, Lauri Markkanen, seemed to be no match for him.

Portland’s prodigy outshines Markkanen & Kuminga

The Portland Trail Blazers faced off against the Utah Jazz in their most recent matchup of the preseason. Despite being a preseason game, this was a high-scoring matchup, with the final score at 133-138.

Even though the Jazz went home with the win, the Blazers got bragging rights at the end of the night. Portland’s Anfernee Simons led the night with a game-high, 29 points. Simons had the most points during the game and the most points anyone has ever scored in this preseason.

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Jonathan Kuminga, who is leading the league with 25 PPG in the preseason too, did not have such an outing. Unfortunately, the Blazers could not cap the night off with a win to carry it on to their next matchup.

The Blazers had two other players who scored 20 points or more. Shaedon Sharpe had 20 points for the game and Jerami Grant was the second-leading scorer for the Blazers, with 24 points for the night.

As for the Utah Jazz, Lauri Markannen led his team in scoring with 26 points, 9 rebounds, and 1 assist in the 25 minutes he played. And this was all along with strong outings from multiple teammates.

The next step for Portland after Damian Lillard

The Portland Trail Blazers may have lost their franchise cornerstone, but the team made up for it in this year’s draft. If that was not enough, the Blazers got plenty of assets in return to rebuild their team for the future.

Watch: Blatant Jonathan Kuminga Blunder Leaves Stephen Curry and Entire Warriors in Tears

Scoot Henderson’s hype does not seem to be false but the players the Blazers already possess deserve a lot of attention. Both Shaedon Sharpe and Anfernee Simons are great guards on the Blazers roster. However, with Lillard at the helm, other guards did not get the ball enough to make plays of their own. Now that Lillard is out of the picture, fans will get to see other players rise to the occasion. Let’s see who becomes Portlad’s next star.

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