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: