Suffice it to say, Scoot Henderson’s rookie season didn’t go as planned.
After being selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the No. 2 pick of the 2023 NBA Draft, the highly touted G League product failed to fill the sizable shoes left behind by Damian Lillard. Appearing in 62 games, Henderson averaged 14 points on 38.5 percent shooting, to go along with 5.4 assists and 3.1 rebounds.
So as he took the podium for the Blazers’ annual media day on Monday, one of the primary topics of conversation figured to be what lessons Henderson learned during his uneven rookie campaign. And while that wound up being the very first question posed to the 20-year-old, his answer proved to be nothing short of baffling.
“I look back at the good food that I had,” Henderson said. “Yeah, a lot of food. And you know, what I learned from it. Thinking about all the games every night. Thinking about the fun I had playing. Thinking about how blessed I was playing. And the fact I was able to be here at this age.”
I love media day pic.twitter.com/4Mq8351Q8f
— Uncle Rick, City Remix (@ShoozumOops) September 30, 2024
I’m sorry, what?
To be clear, the question here wasn’t what Henderson will remember most about his rookie season — which apparently appears to be the food — but rather what lessons he learned from it. Perhaps there’s a deeper meaning to Henderson’s answer. But if there is, he certainly didn’t illustrate it. Rather, he left most of social media wondering whether he might have had the munchies.
Scoot Henderson clearly showed up to media day out of his mind with all due respect pic.twitter.com/NS8sRDNXv4
— Mark Jackson’s Burner (@casualtakeking) October 1, 2024
Scoot Henderson looking higher than a kite on media day 😭pic.twitter.com/7fGVrlhQZl
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) October 1, 2024
We gonna ignore the fact Scoot Henderson showed up completely zooted on media day? 😭😭😭pic.twitter.com/yQdXjxQcrt
— BricksCenter (@BricksCenter) October 1, 2024
I can’t tell if Scoot Henderson is trying to be funny here
His takeaway was eating good food? Maybe he didn’t understand the question?
Was he hot boxing before this interview? https://t.co/HmPsN8Bxg9
— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) October 1, 2024
To be clear, there is no actual evidence that Henderson was high for his media day appearance on Monday. If was, however, his answer would have at least made a lot more sense.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.