The Portland Trail Blazers have announced several basketball operations additions and promotions for the 2026-27 season, including five assistant coaches joining new head coach Micah Nori’s staff.
Jay Triano, Mike Williams, Quinton Crawford, Gilbert Abraham and Leron Black will serve as assistant coaches, while Pooh Jeter and Jason Luhnow have been named player development coaches.
Triano brings two decades of NBA coaching experience to Portland and returns to the organization after previously serving as a Trail Blazers assistant from 2012-16. The 2026 Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame inductee previously served as head coach of the Toronto Raptors from 2008-11 and the Phoenix Suns in 2017-18.
Triano also coached the Canadian national team from 1999-04 and 2012-19 and represented Canada as a player at three Olympic Games. He spent the 2025-26 season as an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks.
Williams joins Portland after three seasons as an assistant with the Utah Jazz. Before that, he spent two seasons as head coach of the Washington Wizards’ G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go, leading the team to a 19-13 record and a semifinal appearance in 2022-23.
Crawford enters his second season with the Trail Blazers after previously coaching the Stockton Kings to the 2025 NBA G League championship in his first season as head coach. He has also worked as an assistant with the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers, including on Los Angeles’ 2020 championship staff.
Abraham will continue as an assistant coach while entering his third season as Portland’s Director of Player Development. Black has been promoted to assistant coach after spending last season as a player development coach and previously working two seasons as an assistant with the Rip City Remix.
Jeter enters his fourth season as a player development coach. His playing career included the Sacramento Kings, G League Ignite and international stops in Spain, Israel, China, France, Turkey and Ukraine.
Luhnow also enters his fourth season with Portland and moves into a full-time player development role after working as the team’s video coordinator and player development coach last season.
The organization will retain Ikenna Smart as video coordinator and player development coach, while Ty Vitko returns as assistant video coordinator and John Townsend remains shooting coach. Jacob Mooallem enters his fifth season as analytics coach.
Nate Bjorkgren will transition into a Special Assistant to the Coaching Staff and Basketball Operations role after three seasons in Portland. Bjorkgren previously coached the Indiana Pacers during the 2020-21 season and worked as a Toronto Raptors assistant.
Portland has also hired James Brocato as Director of Basketball Innovation following 12 years with the Dallas Mavericks, where he most recently served as Director of Basketball Analytics.
The staff changes come during a significant transition for the Trail Blazers. Portland hired Nori on June 23 and later acquired Ja Morant from the Memphis Grizzlies in a blockbuster that sent Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to Memphis.
The Blazers also extended Robert Williams III for three years and added Jeremy Sochan and Branden Carlson during the offseason. Portland did not have a selection in the 2026 NBA Draft after its first-round pick was conveyed to Chicago and its second-round pick went to New Orleans.
With Morant joining a backcourt that also includes Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday and Scoot Henderson, Nori will have a substantial roster-management challenge entering his first season. Shaedon Sharpe is also recovering from a torn meniscus, while Deni Avdija’s back injury remains another issue to monitor.
