Longtime digital reporter Casey Holdahl let go by Portland Trail Blazers
Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images When Tom Dundon paid $4. 25 billion for the Portland Trail Blazers, Casey Holdahl had already spent nearly two decades building the franchise’s digital presence. On Tuesday, Dundon made clear what that tenure was worth to him, as Holdahl, one of around 70 employees, was let go on the business side of the organization.
“I have indeed been let go after 18+ years with the @trailblazers,” Holdahl wrote on X. “My sincerest thanks to all of you who have read/listened/watched/engaged with my work over the years. ” I have indeed been let go after 18+ years with the @trailblazers .
My sincerest thanks to all of you who have read/listened/watched/engaged with my work over the years. — Casey Holdahl (@CHold) May 19, 2026 The departure follows a month of scrutiny over how Dundon has been running the franchise since the NBA Board of Governors approved his $4. 25 billion purchase in April.
Last month, multiple reports surfaced that for both the play-in game in Phoenix and the first-round series in San Antonio — Portland’s first road playoff trip since the 2020-21 season — the Blazers left Holdahl and award-winning team photographer Bruce Ely at home as part of broader cost-cutting measures. Both were kept out of the traveling party, not because their work wasn’t needed, but because sending them cost money that the organization apparently didn’t want to spend. The people whose job it is to document and distribute the franchise’s postseason moments to its fan base weren’t there to do it.
That wouldn’t be the last of it. The Rose Garden Report ‘s Sean Highkin reported that the Blazers also left their three two-way players — Caleb Love, Chris Youngblood, and Jayson Kent — at home rather than bring them to San Antonio, something Highkin confirmed no other road playoff team did this weekend. Sports Illustrated ‘s Chris Mannix, meanwhile, reported that staff members were asked to vacate their Phoenix hotel rooms mid-afternoon to avoid late-checkout fees.