New Blazers owner says team is shifting away from development mindset of recent years

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — While the Portland Trail Blazers have emphasized developing young talent in recent years, new owner Tom Dundon says that mindset is shifting toward loftier goals.

“We've tried to get this message through the last couple of days that that was fun, and probably necessary, but it's more fun to win," Dundon said. "It's more fun to do the things that lead to success and hopefully we'll start creating more habits, that those processes lead to the kind of winning that I expect, and I think everybody expects.”

Dundon spoke Thursday along with fellow investors in the “Rip City Rising” ownership group. The NBA Board of Governors on Monday approved the reported $4.25 billion sale of the team by Paul Allen's estate and the new owners took over the team on Tuesday.

The Blazers sit at 39-38 in the Western Conference, a half-game back of the eighth-place Los Angeles Clippers. Having already clinched a play-in spot, if Portland can move into the eighth spot it is an easier one-game shot at advancing to the playoffs.

The new owners group includes Dundon, Portland-based Sheel Tyle, the co-founder of investment firm Collective Global; Marc Zahr, co-president of Blue Owl Capital; the Cherng Family Trust, the investment firm of the co-founders of Panda Express; Stan Middleman of Freedom Mortgage who also owns a stake of the Philadelphia Phillies, and others.

In addition to the Trail Blazers, the acquisition includes the Rip City Remix in the NBA G League and Rip City Management, which operates the Moda Center.

Earlier this month, Dundon sold a portion of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes to three new minority owners, a transaction reportedly worth $332.5 million for 12.5% of the team.

Dundon bought a stake in the Hurricanes in 2017, became the majority owner in 2018 and took sole possession of the club in 2021. He is chairman and managing partner of the Dallas-based firm Dundon Capital Partners.

Dundon said he won't shy from pulling off the big deal, adding Blazers general manager Joe Cronin had a possible deal at the trade deadline that would have made a splash.

“If that opportunity exists, I'm probably more aggressive than most," Dundon said. "If it doesn't exist, then you've got to go about finding the pieces to continue to get better, then decide if you can get good enough to win a championship, or you have to take a step back.”

Portland has built in recent years around a nucleus of young players, including Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Toumani Camara and Donovan Clingan. The team's top scorer is Deni Avdija, in his fifth season.

The sale of the Trail Blazers comes after the Oregon Legislature approved funds for the renovation of the Moda Center in early March. The measure gives the state joint ownership of the 30-year-old arena with the city and provides a mechanism to secure $365 million for the building’s renovation ahead of the women's NCAA Final Four in 2030.

Allen, the Microsoft co-founder who died in 2018, bought the Blazers in 1988 for $70 million. His estate announced last May it had begun the process of selling the team. Allen also owned the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and a minority share of Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders.

Allen stipulated in his will the eventual sale of his teams, with the proceeds to be given to philanthropic endeavors. Allen’s estate announced it began the process of selling the Seahawks in mid-February, about two weeks after the team captured the franchise’s second Super Bowl championship.

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Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin, left, and Sheel Tyle, Blazers alternate governor, center, listen as during a news conference with new owner and governor Tom Dundon, right, on Thursday, April 2, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Portland Trail Blazers new owner and governor Tom Dundon, left, speaks during a news conference on Thursday, April 2, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Portland Trail Blazers new owner and governor Tom Dundon, center, speaks as alternate governors Andrew Cherng, right, and Sheel Tyle listen during a news conference on Thursday, April 2, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Portland Trail Blazers new owner and governor Tom Dundon speaks during a news conference on Thursday, April 2, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ousted the Army’s top uniformed officer and two other generals, the Pentagon said Thursday without giving a reason for the departures while the United States is waging a war against Iran.

Gen. Randy George “will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately,” said Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesman. George has held the post of Army chief of staff, which typically runs for four years, since August 2023 under the Biden administration.

The ouster, reported earlier by CBS News, is just the latest of more than a dozen firings of top generals and admirals by Hegseth since he took office last year. Like many of those other firings, Pentagon officials are not offering a reason for George's departure, which comes nearly five weeks into U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran and with no clear timeline from President Donald Trump on when the war may end.

Hegseth also has ousted Army Gen. David Hodne and Army Maj. Gen. William Green, according to a Pentagon official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive leadership changes. A reason for their departures also was not given.

Gen. Christopher LaNeve will be stepping in as acting Army chief of staff, the Pentagon official said. LaNeve was serving as Hegseth’s top military aide when Trump suddenly nominated him to be the Army's vice chief of staff last October. It is a meteoric rise for an officer who was only a two-star general two years ago.

He would take over for George, who is a graduate of West Point Military Academy and an infantry officer who served in the first Gulf War as well as Iraq and Afghanistan. He also served as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s top military aide from 2021 to 2022 during the Biden administration before taking on top leadership roles in the Army.

George made it through the initial round of firings under the Trump administration in February 2025, when Hegseth removed top military leaders, including Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s top uniformed officer, and Gen. Jim Slife, the No. 2 leader at the Air Force. Trump also fired Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Since then, more than a dozen other top military generals and admirals have either retired early or been removed from their posts.

Among those departures was George’s deputy, Gen. James Mingus, who was vice chief of staff of the Army for less than two years. LaNeve was nominated to that post after earlier being plucked from commanding the Eighth Army in South Korea after less than a year in the job to be Hegseth’s top military aide.

A spokesman for George could not be reached for comment.

Of the other generals who were fired, Hodne had been head of the Army Transformation and Training Command, a unit that was only stood up in December as part of George’s effort to modernize the Army and amid Hegseth’s push to reduce the number of general officers in the military.

Green had been the Army’s chief of chaplains. Hegseth announced two major reforms to the military’s chaplain corps a little over a week ago.

In a video message last week, Hegseth said he wanted chaplains to focus more on God and less on therapeutic “self-help and self-care.” In recent years, the military has become increasingly dependent on chaplains to help address the growing numbers of troops in mental health distress. Hegseth also said chaplains would no longer wear their rank on their uniform but instead would be identified by religious insignia.

The leadership shakeup comes as Army paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne division are heading to the Middle East along with thousands of Marines and other assets. The Trump administration has avoided questions about whether or not the U.S. military will deploy ground troops against Iran.

In a prime-time address Wednesday about the war, Trump offered no end date for the conflict and few details on his strategy going forward but did forecast more military action.

“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” Trump said of Iran, before adding that “we’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong.”

Hegseth echoed that sentiment after the speech, with a post on social media that simply read, “Back to the Stone Age.”

Iran’s mission to the United Nations said on X that Trump’s comment “reflects ignorance, not strength,” noting that Iran’s civilization spans over 7,000 years.

This story has been corrected to show that Gen. Jim Slife’s name was misspelled Silfe.

FILE - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, left, and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George review troops during the POW/MIA National Recognition Day Ceremony at the Pentagon, Sept. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George speaks during the POW/MIA National Recognition Day Ceremony at the Pentagon, Sept. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, file)

FILE - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, left, and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George review troops during the POW/MIA National Recognition Day Ceremony at the Pentagon, Sept. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George speaks during the POW/MIA National Recognition Day Ceremony at the Pentagon, Sept. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, file)