Tom Dundon completed his purchase of controlling interest in the Portland Trail Blazers 33 days ago. This week he laid off 70 people from the front office and basketball operations staff, including former Houston Comets star and team community ambassador Tina Thompson.

The cuts hit business operations, marketing, and community relations. Two vice presidents cleared their desks Monday. A director-level role in sponsorship activation was eliminated Tuesday, the same day Dundon met with remaining department heads at the Moda Center for what three attendees described as a "cost-structure review." The layoffs represent roughly 28% of the Blazers' non-basketball staff, which numbered around 250 full-time employees before the ownership transition closed in late March.

Dundon's method is familiar to anyone who watched him operate the Carolina Hurricanes since he took majority control in 2018. He stripped the front office there from 110 to 68 within six months, renegotiated arena naming rights, and pushed ticket pricing analytics in-house instead of using external consultants. The Hurricanes' operating income improved $14 million in his first full year, according to Forbes estimates, while hockey operations spending held flat. Portland's financials are murkier—the team hasn't filed updated revenue figures since Dundon's purchase—but people close to the transaction say he's modeling a $22-25 million annual savings target from non-basketball personnel alone.

The timing matters for sponsors. Portland's jersey patch deal with StormX runs through 2025-26, worth a reported $3.8 million annually. A vice president who handled that relationship was among the cuts, and two league sponsorship executives say they've heard nothing from the Blazers about renewal conversations. One noted that Dundon personally manages high-value partnerships in Carolina, preferring direct negotiation to delegate layers. If that pattern holds, expect him on calls with Intel, Alaska Airlines, and biofreeze by June. Meanwhile, the team's local broadcast arrangement with ROOT Sports expires after next season, and Dundon is known to distrust regional sports networks. He tried to launch a Hurricanes direct-to-consumer streaming product in 2019 before NHL rules blocked it.

Tina Thompson's exit registers beyond payroll. She played four WNBA seasons in her Hall of Fame career, spent 12 years as a Comets champion, and joined the Blazers as a community ambassador in 2021 under previous owner Jody Allen. Her role involved youth clinics, hospital visits, and alumni events—soft ROI work that Dundon's spreadsheet approach tends to cut first. The optics are poor in a city where the Blazers already face public pressure over Damian Lillard's 2023 trade demand and a 21-61 season. Letting go a women's basketball legend while the franchise is publicly courting a WNBA expansion bid is the kind of unforced error that complicates political capital with city hall and league offices alike.

Watch for three moves in the next 60 days. First, a new chief revenue officer hire—Dundon doesn't leave that seat empty long, and the job description will specify "direct P&L ownership." Second, announcement of whether Portland pursues the WNBA expansion slot the league is quietly shopping; that decision now sits solely with Dundon, and his calculus will hinge on incremental facility costs versus sponsorship upside. Third, any personnel additions in basketball operations. The cuts were business-side, but Dundon's pattern is to reallocate savings toward competitive advantage: analytics hires, player development infrastructure, things that show up in win shares per dollar.

The Blazers have $34 million in luxury tax breathing room under the second apron next season, a payroll flexibility Dundon inherited and hasn't yet spent. How he uses that cap space will tell you more about his Portland strategy than any interview transcript.