Spurs-Trail Blazers injury report: No Ja Morant, Tobias Harris out, and more to know before tip

Seven in a row for the Spurs, and they're looking for number eight tonight at the Moda Center against the 6-2 Trail Blazers at 9:00 p.m. CT. Both teams are on the second night of back-to-back. San Antonio won at Sacramento 124-109 on Friday, and Portland lost to Luka Doncic's Lakers 124-118.

This is a rematch of the first round of the playoffs from almost seven months ago. The Silver and Black beat the Blazers 4-1 in April. It was the first time this franchise had won a postseason series since 2017. Now both teams are back at it with strong starts to the 2026-27 campaign, and meeting for the first time this season, so here's what you need to know.

Spurs injury report

Maliq Brown - Out (G League - Two-Way)
Ja’Kobi Gillespie - Out (G League - Two-Way)
Tobias Harris - Out (Left calf strain)
Jayden Quaintance - Out (Right knee surgery)

Trail Blazers injury report

Vit Krejci - Out (Left ankle fracture)
Ja Morant - Out (Left hamstring strain)
Shaedon Sharpe - Out (Right meniscus surgery)
John Tonje - Out (G League - Two-Way)
Robert Williams III - Out (Rest)

The Trail Blazers have improved since the Spurs' playoff series

Portland made two big moves since the end of their last season. The first was a June 29 trade that sent Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to Memphis for Ja Morant, who has two years and about $87 million left on his max rookie extension. The second was Damian Lillard coming back from a torn Achilles that cost him a year on the court.

Lillard returned, and Morant debuted in the same game, a 124-83 rout of Phoenix on October 21, where Dame scored 25 with six threes, and Ja had 14 points and eight assists. A week later, the former Grizzlies star suffered a left hamstring strain against his former team, and the Blazers ruled him out for at least four weeks.

Portland is 6-2 anyway, so give them credit, but that's only four games without their big offseason pickup. Two of the three wins came against teams with a combined three wins this year (Suns and Jazz). Of the remaining contests—well, they lost one of them. The other was a victory over Denver. That'd be more impressive last season, as the Nuggets currently sit at 4-3, still trying to find themselves.

I'm not saying they're frauds, but the record deserves context just as the Spurs' does. That's why 82-game schedules are so appealing. They give a team time to experiment, find an identity, sharpen it, and build a well-oiled machine that will be ready to compete at an elite level come playoff time.

But time doesn't always lead to linear elevation. Sometimes, it exposes the flaws in your design. What may have started strong falters because it can't sustain. I'd say it's fair to question both of these teams through that lens, based on very different situations, but real for each, nonetheless.

Will the Spurs' three-guard lineup hold up against tougher opponents with larger lineups over the entire season? Will the bench consistency improve? For Portland, will their defense eventually get exposed with Morant and Lillard playing heavy minutes together?

The Spurs need to prove their hot shooting is here to stay

Tonight won't settle any of that, but it will give us a look at a different question we've been asking. Can the Spurs shoot the ball? They went 15-30 (50%) from three against the Kings. That moved the team from 32.2% to 33.9%, putting them in the top 20. That's progress.

The Trail Blazers' defense is a step up from everyone San Antonio has played since Houston (that includes a Gobert-less Timberwolves team). If the Spurs keep their hot shooting up against a better defensive opponent, it could be another signal that the offense is finding its rhythm. They don't need to shoot 50% from three every night, but we do need to know if good shooting nights are outliers.

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