Tom Dundon regrets not touring Blazers’ 2-way gamers: ‘I just made a mistake’

Amid criticism over his perceived frugality, new Portland Trail Blazers proprietor Tom Dundon set the document straight and apologized for a minimum of one controversial cost-cutting measure throughout a latest interview on the “Game Over” podcast.

Since March 30, when the NBA’s Board of Governors permitted Portland’s sale to Dundon, experiences have circulated about important belt-tightening inside the group. That included rumors of the Blazers making an attempt to rent a head coach for what could be the league’s lowest wage, in addition to phrase that the staff skimped on approving late resort checkouts for workers on the street.

The one Dundon instructed podcast hosts Max Kellerman and Rich Paul he regrets: not bringing the Blazers’ two-way gamers on the street for the opening weekend of the playoffs.

“I just made a mistake. I just don’t understand the league,” Dundon stated on the podcast. “In hockey, we don’t travel (with) extra people because it’s … we’re not on vacation. We’re here to win, so we don’t want the distraction. The NBA seems to live with those distractions. It’s not how I think about it. So, you sort of got to learn, you know, what’s the differences between the two leagues.”

Dundon’s account additionally ran counter to latest feedback by common supervisor Joe Cronin, who initially took the blame for Portland’s cost-cutting measure.

“That one’s on me,” Cronin instructed reporters May 1. “It was more of a miscommunication on my end.”

Dundon, who purchased the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes in January 2018, has largely shrugged off the destructive consideration he has obtained as Trail Blazers proprietor as a result of he doesn’t suppose critics perceive him or his method.

The Trail Blazers had been the one street playoff staff to not journey two-way gamers through the opening weekend of the 2026 playoffs. Per NBA coverage, these gamers might have a minimum of attended video games 1 and a pair of in opposition to the San Antonio Spurs. Dundon reversed course by sending the staff’s two-ways — Caleb Love, Jayson Kent and Chris Youngblood — to San Antonio to conclude Portland’s shock playoff look.

As his dialog with Kellerman and Paul continued, Dundon defined why he didn’t remorse the choice to not pay for workers’ late resort checkouts through the staff’s journey to Phoenix for the Play-In Tournament.

“Normally, when you travel, you get (a) late checkout, right? In this case, in sports, it’s usually like 5 percent and never comes up. We went because it was last-minute going to Phoenix. There was no hotels, I guess,” Dundon stated. “… So I had trouble getting hotels, and the hotel really wanted us to be out early because they needed the rooms, and so they wanted us to pay for a second night, and so we did that for the coaches and the players, but we got them to let us leave at 1 o’clock.”

Team employees and Dundon himself handed the time within the resort ballroom he’d beforehand reserved, as an alternative of paying for the late checkout, the proprietor stated. He then doubled down on not regretting what he thought was a center floor for the state of affairs.

“I think it’s actually pretty stupid to think that people who are there to work, who are being fed — and 45 minutes later, they weren’t in the lobby,” Dundon stated. “They brought their bags down in the room, right by where the bus was, right next to my bag, and we sat down there and talked. And you know, if that’s too hard for people, I’m not right for them. You know, like, I want that culture.”

Dundon’s buy of the Trail Blazers coincided with the staff’s securing its first playoff berth since 2021. The season began with head coach Chauncey Billups getting arrested for his alleged involvement in an unlawful playing ring, resulting in assistant coach Tiago Splitter taking on as interim head coach. As the Blazers gauge methods to deal with their head-coaching search, experiences have surfaced that they’ve despatched out “low-ball offers” to potential candidates, together with faculty coaches and Splitter, who’s making $850,000 because the interim coach.