The Blazers and coach Terry Stotts have reached an agreement on a contract extension, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter link). Stotts had a team option on his original deal for the 2016/17 season and the team will exercise that option, Wojnarowski writes.
The extension will be for three additional seasons, starting in the 2017/18 campaign, and it will keep him in Portland through the 2019/20 season, Wojnarowski tweets. Stotts will make approximately $5.5MM per season over the three years of the extension, reports David Aldridge of NBA.com (Twitter link).
It was reported last week that the team and representatives for Stotts would explore the idea of a contract extension. Warren LeGarie, who represents both Stotts and GM Neil Olshey, was pushing to secure a long-term deal for Stotts with Portland and LeGarie had said that other teams would be interested in the coach should Portland not reach an agreement with his client.
Still, after a successful season, which included Stotts finishing second in the Coach of the Year voting, the chances of Portland letting the coach getting away seemed slim. Damian Lillard said before the season that he wants Stotts in Portland for as long as he is there. Lillard signed a five-year extension in last July.
Stotts joined the Blazers in 2012 and has a regular season record of 182-146 with the team. He is 297-314 in the regular season for his career and he has only won 12 of the 32 playoff games he has coached.
There have been whispers in the media the past two weeks that Stotts was looking at other jobs if he didn’t get an extension. I never believed that would happen. He’s too good for the Blazers to let him go.