Prior to the 2016-17 NBA season, the Portland Trail Blazers re-signed numerous role players to long-term deals after exceeding expectations following LaMarcus Aldridge signing with the San Antonio Spurs. However, after barely making the playoffs and losing to the Golden State Warriors in the first round this past season, the Blazers decided to reduce the payroll.
After originally matching the four-year, $74 million offer sheet from the Brooklyn Nets, the Blazers traded Allen Crabbe for Andrew Nicholson earlier in the offseason. Now, they have waived Nicholson using the stretch provision prior to the 2017-18 season:
Portland has waived forward Andrew Nicholson, using stretch provision to spread out cap hit on balance of deal, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 30, 2017
While the Blazers were the surprise team that season, investing long-term deals on role players who had career years has created a challenging situation. Along with Crabbe, the Blazers also signed Evan Turner, Maurice Harkless, and Meyers Leonard to significant contracts.
With the selection of Zach Collins in the 2017 NBA Draft and numerous teams in the Western Conference improving, it will be interesting to see if they can make the postseason. Even though Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum recruited Carmelo Anthony during the offseason, the 10-time All-Star is reportedly only willing to waive his no-trade clause for the Houston Rockets if the New York Knicks want to move him.
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