FRIDAY, 12:08pm: The Blazers have now officially announced the Batum signing (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 6:24pm: The forward will earn $10.7M in each of the first two seasons while year three is worth $10.9MM and year four is $11.2MM, tweets Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com.
6:20pm: Batum's deal includes a $1.5MM signing bonus, according to Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com (via Twitter).
4:49pm: Olshey informed reporters, including Joe Freeman of the Oregonian (Twitter link), that Batum's offer sheet wasn't quite as high as the $46.5MM that had been reported. The Blazers GM explained that some of the incentives included in the deal were rejected by the NBA, and said Portland would still have a little cap room left after signing Batum and Ronnie Price (Twitter link).
4:16pm: The Trail Blazers have officially matched the Timberwolves' offer sheet for Batum, the team announced today. The Blazers' contract with Batum will be for four years and $46.5MM. It includes a 15% trade kicker, and could be worth up to $50MM if Batum reaches certain incentives.
WEDNESDAY, 3:12pm: Jason Quick of the Oregonian confirms (via Twitter) that Batum is in Portland and the Blazers will match the Timberwolves' offer sheet. GM Neil Olshey is expected to address the media in Vegas in about an hour.
MONDAY, 3:07pm: Although there were a few doubts about whether the Trail Blazers would match the Timberwolves' lucrative $46.5MM offer sheet for Nicolas Batum, Portland appears to be ready to do just that. According to Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com, the team has told Batum's agent Bouna Ndiaye to make sure his client is in town for a physical in the coming days.
Minnesota's offer sheet for Batum included not only $46.5MM over four years, but a 15% trade kicker and incentives that could increase the value to $50MM. It was likely a steeper price than the Blazers were anticipating, but as Haynes points out, if the team was willing to let Batum walk, they probably would have worked out a sign-and-trade with the T-Wolves rather than losing the young forward for nothing.
Ndiaye indicated to Haynes that he's not sure whether the Blazers will use the full three-day window to exericse their right of first refusal. The club received Batum's offer sheet on Sunday, so an official decision may not come until Wednesday.
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Batum is just flat out not worth that money.
Suckas!
Portland just got Kahned into paying way to much!
KAAAAAAAAAHN!!!!