The Trail Blazers joined the NBA during a league expansion that also included the Buffalo Braves and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The original Portland club featured guard Geoff Petrie and forward LeRoy Ellis; it registered a win-loss record of 29-53. Portland had several talented rookies, and Petrie shared the NBA rookie of the year award with Dave Cowens of the Boston Celtics. Blazers forward Sidney Wicks won the award the following year. After their debut campaign, the Blazers placed near the bottom of the league during their next three seasons. A 27-55 win-loss record in 1973-74 earned the Blazers the number-one selection in the 1974 NBA draft, which the team used to pick Bill Walton, a three-time college player of the year while at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

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With Walton at center and former St. Louis Hawks star Lenny Wilkens installed as head coach, the Blazers won 38 games in the 1974-75 season and 37 games the following year. Before the 1976-77 season, former Buffalo Braves coach Jack Ramsay replaced Wilkens. Ramsay brought a disciplined, team-oriented strategy to the club, which had added guard Lionel Hollins in the 1975 NBA draft and power forward Maurice Lucas from the disbanded American Basketball Association (ABA)