1988–89 Portland Trail Blazers season

The 1988–89 Portland Trail Blazers season was the 19th season for the Portland Trail Blazers in the National Basketball Association. The Trail Blazers had the 21st overall pick in the 1988 NBA draft, and selected power forward Mark Bryant out of Seton Hall University. During the off-season, the team signed free agent Danny Young.

After a 25–22 start to the regular season, head coach Mike Schuler was fired in mid-February, and was replaced with assistant coach Rick Adelman on an interim basis; after the season, Adelman was made the team's head coach on a full-time basis. At mid-season, the Trail Blazers traded Kiki Vandeweghe to the New York Knicks in exchange for a future first-round draft pick. The team held a 25–21 record at the All-Star break, and played below .500 in winning percentage for the remainder of the season, which included two six-game losing streaks in February and March. The Trail Blazers finished in fifth place in the Pacific Division with a 39–43 record, earning the eighth seed in the Western Conference, and qualifying for the NBA playoffs for the seventh consecutive year.

Clyde Drexler averaged 27.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 2.7 steals per game, while last season's Most Improved Player Kevin Duckworth averaged 18.1 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, and Terry Porter provided the team with 17.7 points, 9.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game. In addition, Jerome Kersey contributed 17.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game, while Steve Johnson provided with 10.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, and Sam Bowie averaged 8.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, but only played just 20 games due to injury. Meanwhile, Adrian Branch contributed 7.4 points per game, while Young provided with 6.2 points and 2.6 assists per game, but only played just 48 games, Bryant averaged 5.0 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, and Caldwell Jones averaged 2.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Houston Astrodome in Houston, Texas, Drexler and Duckworth were both selected for the 1989 NBA All-Star Game, as members of the Western Conference All-Star team; it was Duckworth's first ever All-Star appearance. In addition, Drexler and Kersey both participated in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest; it was the fifth appearance for Drexler, and the fourth appearance for Kersey.

In the Western Conference First Round of the 1989 NBA playoffs, the Trail Blazers faced off against the top–seeded, and 2-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, who won the Pacific Division title; the team was led by the quartet of All-Star guard, and Most Valuable Player of the Year, Magic Johnson, All-Star forward James Worthy, Byron Scott, and All-Star center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Trail Blazers lost the first two games to the Lakers on the road at the Great Western Forum, before losing Game 3 at home, 116–108 at the Memorial Coliseum, thus losing the series in a three-game sweep; it was the fourth consecutive year that the Trail Blazers lost in the opening round of the NBA playoffs. The Lakers would advance to the NBA Finals for the third consecutive year, but would lose to the Detroit Pistons in a four-game sweep in the 1989 NBA Finals.

The Trail Blazers finished 17th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 527,008 at the Memorial Coliseum during the regular season. Following the season, the oft-injured Bowie was traded to the New Jersey Nets, while Jones signed as a free agent with the San Antonio Spurs, and Johnson was left unprotected in the 1989 NBA expansion draft, where he was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves expansion team.