The Portland Trail Blazers‘ front office has possibly one of the busiest phone lines prior to this year's NBA Draft, recently receiving strong interest from the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets, who are hoping to acquire one of their three first-round picks.
The Knicks scheduled a workout with North Carolina forward Justin Jackson, per ESPN's Ian Begley, who is pegged as a mid- to late-round prospect come June 22, and have inquired with the Blazers, looking to add another first-round pick to their No. 8 overall selection, according to Sean Deveney of the Sporting News.
Portland owns the 15th, 20th, and 26th overall selections, making it increasingly enticing for New York to snatch one away in hopes of drafting the long-spanned hybrid wing.
The Blazers have a total of 12 players under contract for next season, including a projected salary of $133 million — $12 million over the NBA’s luxury-tax threshold, which puts the team in line for $21 million in luxury-tax payments.
If Portland were to keep all of its picks, there would be an extra $4 million added to the previous sum, totaling $10 million more in tax payments. This provision could be avoided by choosing players from overseas and merely keeping their rights, without being able to play in the NBA next season.
The bottom-feeding Nets have also inquired for the Blazers' picks, given that they have this and next year's picks sent to the Boston Celtics. Most interestingly, Brooklyn has roughly $40 million of cap space and could take in the likes of Meyers Leonard, who is still owed a whopping $31 million — and could even dangle marksman Allen Crabbe, who the Nets chased after last offseason as a free agent.
Crabbe's contract comes with a 15 percent trade-kicker, a sum of $11.25 million that the Blazers likely wouldn't like to pay unless they absolutely have to.
Follow Us
Subscribe