PORTLAND, Ore. — At long last, The Natural will represent Rip City again.
The Portland Trail Blazers announced Tuesday that Brandon Roy, the former All-Star guard who in the mid-2000s helped lead the Blazers out of the "Jail Blazers" era, will represent the team at the NBA draft lottery next Tuesday.
It will mark the first time Roy, one of the most popular players in franchise history, has represented the Blazers since he and the team parted ways in 2011.
Roy brings a precedent of luck at the lottery. Sixteen years ago, Roy was the Blazers' representative at the 2007 draft lottery when Portland jumped six other teams to land the No. 1 pick despite just 5.3% odds to do so.
This season, Portland has a 10.5% chance of coming away with the top pick, fifth best among the 14 lottery teams.
Roy's career in Portland ended too soon. A Top-10 pick in 2006, he was traded to the Blazers on draft night. Over his first four seasons, he averaged 20.2 points, 5.0 assists and 4.6 rebounds. He was Rookie of the Year, a three-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection. The Blazers won 21 games the season before Roy joined the team. With Roy leading the way, Portland won 32, 41, 54 and 50 games the next four seasons.
In 2010, the late Kobe Bryant said Roy was the most difficult player to guard in the NBA, saying he had "no weaknesses in his game."
But Roy's knees wouldn't cooperate. In his five seasons in Portland, he had four knee surgeries, which eventually led to his retirement. In his final season in Portland, the former All-NBA guard was relegated to the bench and averaged just 8.0 points in about 20 minutes per contest over the final 24 games.
After the season, Roy told the Blazers in December 2011 that he was planning to retire because of his knees and days later, he was released by the team. Portland used the amnesty clause, a component of a previous collective bargaining agreement, so it could remove his salary from their cap sheet.
In the years since, the Seattle native has rarely attended Blazers games. Until he agreed to represent Portland at this year's draft lottery, Roy had, for various reasons, rejected multiple invitations to represent the team or be honored during ceremonial events at halftimes of games.
In an interview with Jason Quick of The Athletic in 2020, Roy said he was reluctant to return over the past decade because he was struggling to come to terms with how suddenly his NBA career had ended. Then after owner Paul Allen died and the organization turned over executives, coaches and players, Roy said he no longer felt a connection to the team.
Roy insisted that his absence was not because he was upset with the organization, as some had speculated.
"I would hear that people were asking if Brandon was beefing with Portland ... and it's like, no," he told Quick. "But I didn't feel like it was my duty to go out publicly and say, 'No, we are not beefing.' I just kind of left it as is."
The lottery drawing takes place Tuesday, May 16 in Chicago and the results will be announced during a draft lottery show starting at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN. The NBA draft is Thursday, June 22.
At stake for the 14 lottery teams is a chance at the No. 1 pick and the opportunity to draft 7-foot-4 French phenom Victor Wembanyama, hailed by scouts, coaches, players and pundits as the best NBA prospect since LeBron James.