PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Portland Trail Blazers have exercised their team options on contract extensions for guard Scoot Henderson, forward Kris Murray and center Donovan Clingan.
The Blazers announced the extensions, which were largely a formality, with the three players on Tuesday, a day before the team's season opener at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
All three were former first-round picks.
Henderson, in his third season with the Blazers, is sidelined for the start of the season with a left hamstring tear. He averaged 12.7 points, 5.1 assists and 3.0 rebounds last season.
Murray, also in his third season, averaged 4,2 points and 2.6 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per game last season. Clingan averaged 6.5 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks as a rookie last season.
Over the weekend, the Blazers reached a four-year rookie extension with guard Shaedon Sharpe worth $90 million and an $82 million four-year extension with forward Toumani Camara.
Camara became key to Portland's defense last season and averaged 11.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists. His 1.5 steals per game ranked ninth in the league and he earned All-Defensive second team honors.
Sharpe averaged 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists last season.
"It just alleviates so much stress. There are so many things in an NBA season that provide stress to you," Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. "It’s one of those things you just get it out the way. You can really now focus on trying to be the best that you can be, helping the team the best that you can and not have the pressure of worrying about: ‘If I don’t play well, what can happen?’”
Billups said the starters for Wednesday's game will be Sharpe, Camara, Clingan, Jrue Holiday and Deni Avdija.
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Portland Trail Blazers forward Toumani Camara saves the ball from going out of bounds during the first half of an NBA basketball preseason game against the Sacramento Kings in Portland, Ore., Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer)
Portland Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe (17) drives to the basket as Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) defends during the first half of an NBA preseason basketball game Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman)
Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis, left, collects a rebound in front of Portland Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball preseason game in Portland, Ore., Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A state appeals court is being asked to dismiss felony voter misconduct charges against an Alaska resident born in American Samoa, one of numerous cases that have drawn attention to the complex citizenship status of people born in the U.S. territory.
In arguments Thursday, attorneys for Tupe Smith plan to ask the Alaska Court of Appeals in Anchorage to reverse a lower court's decision that let stand the indictment brought against her. Her supporters say she made an innocent mistake that does not merit charges, but the state contends Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship.
Prosecutors also have brought charges against 10 other people from American Samoa in the small Alaska community of Whittier, including Smith’s husband and her mother-in-law. American Samoa is the only U.S. territory where residents are not automatically granted citizenship by being born on American soil and instead are considered U.S. nationals. Paths to citizenship exist, such as naturalization, though that process can be expensive and cumbersome.
American Samoans can serve in the military, obtain U.S. passports and vote in elections in American Samoa, but they cannot hold public office in the U.S. or participate in most U.S. elections.
About 25 people gathered on a snowy street outside the courthouse before Thursday's hearing to support Smith. One woman, Fran Seager of Palmer, held a sign that said, “Support our Samoans. They are US nationals.”
Smith's husband, Michael Pese, thanked the American Samoa community in the Anchorage area. “If it wasn’t for you guys, I wouldn’t be strong enough to face this head on,” he said.
State Sen. Forrest Dunbar, a Democrat who attended the rally, said the Alaska Department of Law has limited resources.
“We should be going after people who are genuine criminals, who are violent criminals, or at least have the intent to deceive,” he said. “I do not think it is a good use of our limited state resources to go after these hardworking, taxpaying Alaskans who are not criminals.”
Smith was arrested after winning election to a regional school board in 2023. She said she relied on erroneous information from local election officials when she identified herself as a U.S. citizen on voter registration forms.
In a court filing in 2024, one of her previous attorneys said that when Smith answered questions from the Alaska state trooper who arrested her, she said she was aware that she could not vote in presidential elections but was “unaware of any other restrictions on her ability to vote.”
Smith said she marks herself as a U.S. national on paperwork. But when there was no such option on voter registration forms, she was told by city representatives that it was appropriate to mark U.S. citizen, according to the filing.
Smith “exercised what she believed was her right to vote in a local election. She did so without any intent to mislead or deceive anyone,” her current attorneys said in a filing in September. “Her belief that U.S. nationals may vote in local elections, which was supported by advice from City of Whittier election officials, was simply mistaken.”
The state has said Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship. Prosecutors pointed to the language on the voter application forms she filled out in 2020 and 2022, which explicitly said that if the applicant was not at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen, “do not complete this form, as you are not eligible to vote.”
The counts Smith was indicted on “did not have anything to do with her belief in her ability to vote in certain elections; rather they concerned the straightforward question of whether or not Smith intentionally and falsely swore she was a United States citizen,” Kayla Doyle, an assistant attorney general, said in court filings last year.
One of Smith's attorneys, Neil Weare, co-founder of the Washington-based Right to Democracy Project, said by email last week that if the appeals court lets stand the indictment, Alaska will be “the only state to our knowledge with such a low bar for felony voter fraud.”
Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska.
Michael Pese and his wife, Tupe Smith, stand outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter fraud case brought against her by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
Michael Pese, left, his wife, Tupe Smith, and their son Maximus pose for a photo outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter fraud case brought against her by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
FILE - Tupe Smith poses for a photo outside the school in Whittier, Alaska, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
