The Fantasy Basketball Encyclopedia

Player Dossier · Portland Trail Blazers

Matisse Thybulle

Matisse Thybulle remains a category-league steals specialist, but he is an unrestricted free agent—not part of Portland's base projection despite still appearing on the official team page.

Portland projection

GP MPG FG% FT% 3PM PTS REB AST STL BLK TO
0 0.0 — — — — — — — — —

If re-signed: 40 GP, 12 MPG, approximately 4.4 points, 0.9 threes, 1.5 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 1.3 steals, 0.4 blocks and 0.6 turnovers.

Status and evidence

The NBA team page lists Thybulle on Portland's roster as of July 18. NBA team page, accessed 2026-07-18. Contract records show his three-year deal ended after 2025-26 and he became a 2026 UFA. Spotrac, accessed 2026-07-18. Reported Lakers interest on July 16 underscores that he had not re-signed at the research cutoff. Stein report relayed by r/NBA, 2026-07-16

In 2025-26 he averaged 5.8 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 0.5 blocks in 16.0 minutes over 30 games. Basketball Reference, accessed 2026-07-18

Fantasy value

Related: Portland Trail Blazers · Toumani Camara · Jrue Holiday

Career record

Pre-NBA: Four seasons at Washington — 135 games, 134 starts, 9.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.4 blocks in 29.4 minutes. As a senior in 2019 he won the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year and the Lefty Driesell Award, took first-team All-Pac-12, and led all of Division I with 126 steals. Two-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year (2018, 2019). Draft: 2019, first round, 20th overall, Boston; rights traded to Philadelphia.

Season Age Team GP MPG PTS REB AST STL BLK 3PM FG% FT% TO
2019-20 22 PHI 65 19.8 4.7 1.6 1.2 1.4 0.7 0.9 .423 .610 0.8
2020-21 23 PHI 65 20.0 3.9 1.9 1.0 1.6 1.1 0.7 .420 .444 0.5
2021-22 24 PHI 66 25.5 5.7 2.3 1.1 1.7 1.1 0.7 .500 .791 0.6
2022-23 25 PHI 49 12.1 2.7 1.3 0.5 0.9 0.3 0.4 .431 .750 0.2
2022-23 25 POR 22 27.7 7.4 3.5 1.4 1.7 0.8 1.5 .438 .625 0.7
2023-24 26 POR 65 22.9 5.4 2.1 1.4 1.7 0.8 1.2 .397 .759 0.6
2024-25 27 POR 15 20.8 7.5 3.5 1.9 2.2 0.6 1.4 .477 .467 0.9
2025-26 28 POR 30 16.0 5.8 2.0 0.9 2.0 0.5 1.2 .433 .840 0.9
Career 377 20.6 5.0 2.0 1.1 1.6 0.8 0.9 .438 .683 0.6

Two-time All-Defensive Second Team (2021, 2022). The 2022-23 rows are split by the midseason trade from Philadelphia to Portland.

Durability: Fully available for his first four seasons — 65, 65, 66 and 71 combined games. It has since fallen apart. In 2024-25 he had October surgery for right knee inflammation, then suffered a grade 2 right ankle sprain while ramping back up; the two together cost him the first 66 games and he played only Portland's final 15. In 2025-26 he underwent surgery on October 31, 2025 for a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb with a 4-6 week timeline, and finished with 30 games. Two straight seasons under 31 games is now the central question in his profile.

Trajectory: The defensive value has never been in doubt — 1.6 steals per game for a career in 20.6 minutes, with the per-minute rate holding or improving as he has aged. What changed is the shooting: after three seasons under .320 from three in Philadelphia, he has shot .346, .438 and .398 across his Portland years, which is the difference between unplayable and rotation-viable. The 2025-26 line, 2.0 steals and 1.2 threes in 16 minutes on .398 from deep and .840 at the line, is the best version of him. The problem is that it came in 30 games, and he is an unrestricted free agent who had not re-signed at the research cutoff, with reported Lakers interest. He is a category-league steals stream the moment he signs somewhere that gives him a confirmed 18-plus-minute role — landing spot and health, not skill, are the two gates.

Career sources: ESPN career stats · Wikipedia · Blazer's Edge on the 2024-25 knee and ankle injuries · Spotrac contract record

Open questions