- Like Westbrook, Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless may also miss his team’s season opener, according to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. Harkless has dealt with a sore left knee, a lingering injury that stems from when he underwent surgery in March. Portland opens its season next Thursday against the Lakers.
Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2018 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2018/19 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Portland Trail Blazers.
Signings:
Standard contracts:
- Jusuf Nurkic: Four years, $48MM. Includes unlikely incentives. Fourth-year partially guaranteed ($4MM). Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Seth Curry: One year, $2.8MM. Signed using taxpayer mid-level exception.
- Nik Stauskas: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Two-way contracts:
- None
- Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Cameron Oliver: One year, minimum salary.
- Chinanu Onuaku: One year, minimum salary.
- Gary Payton II: One year, minimum salary.
Trades:
- Acquired the draft rights to Gary Trent Jr. (No. 37 pick) from the Kings in exchange for either the Timberwolves’ or Lakers’ 2019 second-round pick (whichever is more favorable), the Heat’s 2021 second-round pick, and cash ($1.5MM).
Draft picks:
- 1-24: Anfernee Simons — Signed to rookie contract.
- 2-37: Gary Trent Jr. — Signed to three-year, $3.92MM contract. Fully guaranteed. Signed using taxpayer mid-level exception.
Departing players:
Other offseason news:
- Team owner Paul Allen being treated for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
- Reached jersey ad sponsorship deal with Performance Health (Biofreeze).
Salary cap situation:
- Remained over the cap.
- Carrying approximately $131.6MM in guaranteed salaries.
- Projected tax bill of $12.58MM.
- $1.7MM of taxpayer mid-level exception still available ($3.63MM used on Seth Curry and Gary Trent Jr.).
Check out the Portland Trail Blazers’ full roster and depth chart at RosterResource.com.
Story of the summer:
When a team gets swept by a lower seed in the first round of the playoffs, it’s logical to assume that management will do more than simply tweak the roster. The Trail Blazers entered the postseason in April as the No. 3 seed with a 49-33 record. The Pelicans, playing without DeMarcus Cousins, made their postseason stay as short as possible.
To be fair, New Orleans only lost one fewer regular-season game than Portland despite being the No. 6 seed. It also had the best player on the floor in Anthony Davis, who averaged 33 PPG in the series.
GM Neil Olshey could have done something bold in the aftermath of that flameout, specifically breaking up the high-scoring backcourt tandem of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Whether Olshey didn’t receive attractive offers for the guards or he simply didn’t want to push the panic button, the Blazers look pretty much the way they did when they cleared out their lockers after last season.
Beyond that duo, the Blazers didn’t have a commodity to trade to bring in another impact player. Their bloated cap situation made it even more difficult to add another piece through a trade or free agency. Their biggest offseason move was retaining starting center and restricted free agent Jusuf Nurkic.
Re-signing Nurkic actually came at a lower cost than originally projected. He reportedly turned down a more lucrative four-year offer during last season with the expectation he’d get a lucrative offer sheet. When the market tightened up during the first week of free agency, Nurkic settled for four years and $48MM with some incentives thrown in.
Locking up their young starting center who posted averages of 14.3 PPG, 9.0 RPG and 1.4 BPG last season for approximately $12MM annually was a best-case scenario for the Blazers. With Nurkic returning, Portland has all of its starters back from its playoff team.
Key offseason losses:- Jusuf Nurkic can earn an extra $1.25MM this season if he appears in 70 games and the Trail Blazers crack the 50-win threshold, according to Marks. Nurkic played in 79 games last season, but because Portland only had 49 wins, this incentive is considered unlikely and doesn’t currently count against Nurkic’s cap hit.
- Marks also notes that several players will have a chance to become eligible for super-max contracts with their current clubs if they make All-NBA teams this season. That list includes Anthony Davis (Pelicans), Draymond Green (Warriors), Klay Thompson (Warriors), Damian Lillard (Trail Blazers), and Kemba Walker (Hornets). Additionally, Devin Booker‘s new extension with the Suns would start at 27.5% of the cap if he’s named to the All-NBA Third Team, 28.5% if he’s named to the Second Team, and 30% for First Team.
[SOURCE LINK]
- Jusuf Nurkic can earn an extra $1.25MM this season if he appears in 70 games and the Trail Blazers crack the 50-win threshold, according to Marks. Nurkic played in 79 games last season, but because Portland only had 49 wins, this incentive is considered unlikely and doesn’t currently count against Nurkic’s cap hit.
- Marks also notes that several players will have a chance to become eligible for super-max contracts with their current clubs if they make All-NBA teams this season. That list includes Anthony Davis (Pelicans), Draymond Green (Warriors), Klay Thompson (Warriors), Damian Lillard (Trail Blazers), and Kemba Walker (Hornets). Additionally, Devin Booker‘s new extension with the Suns would start at 27.5% of the cap if he’s named to the All-NBA Third Team, 28.5% if he’s named to the Second Team, and 30% for First Team.
Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen announced in a press release that he is once again being treated for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Allen was treated for the same cancer in 2009. Allen says he will remain involved in the operations of Trail Blazers as well as the NFL’s Seahawks and his other business ventures.
The statement reads in part, “A lot has happened in medicine since I overcame this disease in 2009. My doctors are optimistic that I will see good results from the latest therapies, as am I. I will continue to stay involved with Vulcan, the Allen Institutes, the Seahawks and Trail Blazers, as I have in the past. I have confidence in the leadership teams to manage their ongoing operations during my treatment.”
- Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless has been limited in camp by a left knee injury he suffered last March, Joe Freeman of The Oregonian reports. Harkless would like to play in a couple of preseason games and ease his way into the regular season. “I want to play in a couple,” he said. “I don’t want to just go out there and just go all out. It’s tough on the body. Coming from an injury, it’s probably not smart to do.”
- Joe Freeman of The Oregonian reports that all indications out of Trail Blazers practice is that new addition Seth Curry is looking good. Teammates are praising his jump-shooting and playmaking ability, while coaches are impressed with his basketball intelligence and versatility.
The Trail Blazers didn’t make any major roster moves this offseason, but tweaked their roster slightly by adding players like Seth Curry, Nik Stauskas, and Anfernee Simons. Head of basketball operations Neil Olshey said on Monday that he’s “happy with what we did” over the summer, though he acknowledged that Portland was outbid for six veteran free agents (Twitter link via Joe Freeman of The Oregonian).
In other Trail Blazers news, starting small forward Maurice Harkless continues to recover from arthroscopic left knee surgery, and his availability during training camp is limited (link via Freeman). Harkless said he’ll be involved in practices, but he hasn’t been cleared to play in 5-on-5 games and doesn’t think he’ll be 100% in practices.
- C.J. McCollum is often the subject of trade speculation, but the Trail Blazers guard tells Michael Scotto of The Athletic that he’d welcome a long-term stay in Portland. “I’m forever grateful for the opportunities they’ve given me and would love to be a Blazer for life,” McCollum said.
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor has taken control of the Jimmy Butler trade talks and wants to get a deal completed as soon as possible, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Tom Thibodeau, who serves as president of basketball operations as well as coach, had been objecting to a deal, hoping to hold onto the veteran forward for another season. However, Taylor wants the process to end before training camp starts Tuesday and has mandated that a deal get done quickly.
Wojnarowski cautions that no team has entered serious discussion with the Wolves yet, but he identifies the Nets, Pistons, Rockets, Clippers, Heat, Sixers and Trail Blazers as franchises that have shown interest.
Taylor plans to review the offers over the next two days, then present the best ones to Butler and his agent, Bernie Lee, to see which teams Butler would be willing to sign a five-year extension with. That information will be used to help finalize a deal, although Wojnarowski adds that some teams would be willing to trade for Butler with no guarantee of an extension .
GM Scott Layden may have jeopardized his job by refusing to talk to other teams about a Butler deal, according to Wojnarowski. Taylor has demanded that Layden start aggressively pursuing a trade, even to the point of contacting rival GMs. Taylor has been considering changes in the front office for months and may re-evaluate Layden’s role once the Butler deal is done.
- The Trail Blazers have become the latest NBA team to secure a jersey patch sponsorship deal, announcing today that they’ve partnered with Performance Health. As a result, a Biofreeze logo will be featured on Portland’s uniform starting in the 2018/19 season. The Blazers are the 24th NBA club to add an advertisement patch to their jerseys since the start of last season.
- Trail Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu and center Jusuf Nurkic have returned to Portland after competing in regional FIBA World Cup qualifiers last week, according to Casey Holdahl of the team’s website. Aminu helped Nigeria go 3-0 during the tournament but Bosnia and Herzegovina went winless in two games despite the efforts of Nurkic.