The Blazers have officially received the offer sheet from Minnesota for restricted free agent Nicolas Batum, tweets Jason Quick of the Oregonian. Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com confirms that it is for four years and $46.5MM with incentives that can take it up to $50MM, as well as a 15% trade kicker.
The Blazers now have three days to decide if they want to match the offer, making the deadline Wednesday night at 11:59pm. This was a highly anticipated move, as the Wolves have been clearing out cap space to for days to make room for Batum – including amnestying Darko Milicic, waiving Martell Webster and trading Brad Miller. The NBA office confirmed that Webster cleared waivers today, according to a tweet from SI's Sam Amick, paving the way for the Batum offer.
For the most part, teams match offers for good players like Batum and the Blazers have maintained all along they plan to do so. But $46.5MM is a lot of money for a guy like Batum and considering that the teams were at one point engaged in sign-and-trade discussions for the French small forward and he has expressed interest in leaving, it seems like a possibility that Portland doesn't match the offer. For all rumors relating to Batum, use this link.
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wow , nice money