11-13-2021, 12:00 PM
(11-13-2021, 11:26 AM)Chicagojk Wrote: Yeah, I was thinking about next year. He probably wants over the MLE but if he does his options are limited. Maybe Dallas could throw something at Portland as a sign and trade instead of them losing him for nothing. BTW, I need to watch him play. I saw him a few times last year and he was either good or pretty bad in the game I watched. Prior to his injuries, he looked to be really good.
I just think any trade for Portland is going to be tricky until the fire hose opens up. Any move that is deemed them taking a step back will open the fire hose imo. So I don't think anything really happens until Dame gets moved. I just don't think that happens this year. Portland seems to be in a rough place, but until Dame requests a trade I think they try to pretend they are a contender. I could be way off though.
I don't really follow Portland closely, but I saw some rumors in the summer that sister of Paul Allen that inherited the team after his death, is looking to sell the franchise. And they need Lillard to maximize the value. Other than that she basically has zero interest in the team as we can see that staying under the tax is a priority every season. I have no idea if this is still relevant.
Btw - where did you see Nurkic doesn't want to resign? I thought he made several statements he wants to stay with Lillard, but again these date back to summer.
Portland is a bit over tax line (3 million according to Spotrac) at the moment so I would expect they make a move to get under the line. There is a hefty prize for non tax teams this season due to huge influx from taxed teams like BKN, GSW and similar. I think each team under the tax line will get well over 10 million. Problem they have is they can't really get under the tax without trading one of their key contributors for less (or zero) salary. A trade like CJ and Covington for Simmons could solve a couple of their problems.
Next season Portland has 115 mil commited to 6 players only with Covington, Nurkic, Simons and a bunch of role players looking for new deals that will likely be in the similar range or higher as existing ones - I don't think it is possible to keep them without entering tax area. Assuming the current owners are not prepared to pay tax, I would guess the team is heading toward a rebuild as the only way to stay under the tax is to lose talent which will probably not taken kindly by Lillard. Unless of course the team will be bought by an ambitious investor willing to pay the tax. They would maximize their rebuilding assets if they start before TDL and cash in on Nurk, RoCo and Simons.