The NBA free agency is right around the corner and when it comes, Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic is expected to be among the intriguing pieces in the player market. For ESPN’s Zach Lowe, however, he would rather bet on the likelihood of Nurkic remaining a Blazer for at least one more season (h/t Sagar Trika of Blazer’s Edge).

Zach Lowe on Jusuf Nurkić’s restricted free agency: “I think Nurkić is gonna take his qualifying offer. Nurkić turned down a *LOT* of money in October. … Who’s offering Nurkić the mid-level [exception]? What’s the team? Nobody needs centers and there’s no cap room.”

The Blazers could choose to extend a qualifying offer worth $4.7 million to Nurkic, who could also test free agency and see whether he’d get a bigger offer from other teams. But as what Lowe implied, the interest for big men with no 3-point shots and the financial situation of most other teams do not align in favor of the Bosnian giant.

In his first full season in Blazers colors, Nurkic averaged decent numbers of 14.3 points. 9.0 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in 79 games played. He was traded to Portland last year by the Denver Nuggets together with a first-round draft pick in exchange for Mason Plumlee and a 2018 second-rounder.

For what it’s worth, Nurkic said back in April that he wants to stay in Portland, but it’s hard to imagine the Blazers giving him a significantly large deal with the team already above the salary cap by $12 million.