The shortening of this year’s July moratorium from 11 days to six puts the squeeze on the Trail Blazers. Portland has enough cap flexibility to pursue max free agents or trade targets from other teams, but the Blazers have three restricted free agents who could force tough, fast decisions if they sign lucrative offer sheets on July 7th. Meyers Leonard, Maurice Harkless and Allen Crabbe were all in the rotation this season and have relatively small cap holds. Each probably warrants a salary for next season that exceeds the value of his cap hold, especially given the player-friendly market expected this summer. Their cap holds escalate the moment they either sign for raises with the Blazers or ink bloated offer sheets from other teams, so the Blazers may well be forced to cut ties with all three of them if they want to keep their options open for more prominent names, unless they can secure the verbal commitments they seek during the brief moratorium. See how Portland’s cap situation looks for 2016/17 as Hoops Rumors continues its offseason salary cap digest series.
Guaranteed Salary
- Damian Lillard ($21,597,000)
- Al-Farouq Aminu ($7,680,965)
- Ed Davis ($6,666,667)
- C.J. McCollum ($3,219,579)
- Noah Vonleh ($2,751,360)
- Mason Plumlee ($2,328,530)
- (Anderson Varejao $1,984,005) — Salary remaining from release via stretch provision
- Pat Connaughton ($874,636)
- Total: $47,102,742
Player Options
- None
Team Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Cliff Alexander ($874,636)
- Luis Montero ($874,636)
- Total: $1,749,272
Restricted Free Agents (Qualifying Offers/Cap Holds)
- Meyers Leonard ($4,045,894/$7,689,700)
- Maurice Harkless ($4,045,894/$7,235,148)
- Allen Crabbe ($2,725,003/$2,725,003)
- Totals: ($10,816,791/$17,649,851)
Unrestricted Free Agents (Cap Holds)
- Gerald Henderson ($9,000,000)
- Chris Kaman ($6,520,800)
- Brian Roberts ($3,711,422)
- Total: $19,232,222
Projected Salary Cap: $92,000,000
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Gerald Henderson will be an interesting decision for the Blazers. Their record was very good when he played a lot of minutes, but there are a lot of teams that need guard help and would like to steal him away.
I don’t know why they think they have real prospects for big name free agents. Re sign your restricted guys and keep building on a good team. Mid level guys will be competitive but it’s possible to improve on Kaman, Henderson, and Roberts within their cap.
They still have 3 to 4 year window with Lillard. There will be trades that can be made if you retain the performance of this year as well.