The Trail Blazers have officially released Jared Jeffries, the team announced today (Twitter link). While the timing of the move may seem unusual, considering the Blazers' season is over, Jeffries' contract for next season would have become guaranteed had the team not cut him within the next five days.
Jeffries, 31, was acquired by the Blazers last July as part of the sign-and-trade deal that sent Raymond Felton to the Knicks. Jeffries also had to be signed-and-traded as part of the transaction, which meant he had to be signed to at least a three-year contract, although the Blazers only had to guarantee the first year.
Earlier this week, Jeffries told Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com that he didn't expect to be retained by Portland, and would likely seek another team that would have more playing time for him. With the Blazers this season, Jeffries appeared in less than half the team's games and set career-lows in many statistical categories, including PPG (1.2) and MPG (9.2).
He’ll be a Knick again next year.
Definitely. He’d actually be a perfect 10th man for this current team but now it’s a bit too late for that.