Report: Trail Blazers increasingly expected to move on from Terry Stotts

The Portland Trail Blazers are increasingly expected to part ways with head coach Terry Stotts if the franchise can't make a solid playoff run, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania and Sam Amick.

"If Stotts can't 'pull a rabbit out of his hat' with a playoff miracle of sorts, as one source put it, the Blazers are expected to opt for a new coaching voice," Charania and Amick write. 

Support of Stotts among players is reportedly lower than it's been in previous seasons and the organization could look for a new, dynamic voice to try to make the most of what's left of Damian Lillard's prime. 

Stotts has one year remaining on his contract after the 2020-21 campaign. He joined the Trail Blazers in August 2012 after serving as an assistant for the Dallas Mavericks and is the fourth longest-tenured coach in the NBA, owning a 394-316 record in Portland.

The Blazers have made the playoffs in seven consecutive seasons under Stotts. However, they have never played in the NBA Finals and have only made it to the Western Conference Finals once, in 2019. 

Portland currently is seventh in the West with a 36-29 record and could be forced to compete in the play-in tournament. The Trail Blazers have seven more games to improve their record and rise in the standings to avoid that fate.