According to a new report by the Oregonian's Joe Freeman, the Cleveland Cavaliers made Trail Blazers forward Nicolas Batum an offer of four years and $52MM when he was a restricted free agent this summer. That offer is significantly higher than the offer sheet Batum signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves, worth $46MM over four years. Portland matched that offer after it was signed.
In Freeman's article, Batum discussed the free-agency process, which was contentious at times between the Blazers and Timberwolves:
"The thing is, I wanted to challenge them," he says. "Because I'm European. And when people say, 'We love you,' they show you they love you. That's a stupid European, French thing. But it's true. After what happened in January, I wanted them to show me they loved me."
So, Cleveland loved him most of all, but even love wasn’t enough?