Blazers Officially Announce Trade Of Raymond Felton & Kurt Thomas To Knicks

The Portland Trail Blazers officially announced the multi-player sign-and-trade that sent guard Raymond Felton and center Kurt Thomas to the New York Knicks for forward Jared Jeffries, center Dan Gadzuric, the rights to Georgios Printezis and Kostas Papanikolaou, a 2016 second-round pick and cash on Monday.

The deal was first reported on Saturday.

Blazers GM Neil Olshey held a brief conference call to discuss the move on Monday afternoon. As expected, he announced that the Blazers would waive Gadzuric, who is on a non-guaranteed contract. Here's a digest version of Olshey's conference call, which was cut short due to audio difficulties.

A league source told Blazersedge on Monday that the condition of Jeffries' knees is fairly serious and could limit his ability to play substantial minutes going forward, although Jeffries is committed to continuing his career.

On the call, Olshey confirmed that "there are definitely issues" with Jeffries' knees, although he wouldn't go into any further detail, as you might expect, instead choosing to focus on Jeffries' locker room presence and leadership abilities, which are widely praised.

Jeffries, 30, played in just 39 games for the Knicks last season.

Here's the team's official release.

The Portland Trail Blazers have acquired forward Jared Jeffries, center Dan Gadzuric, the draft rights to Georgios Printezis and Kostas Papanikolaou, a 2016 second round draft pick and cash considerations from the New York Knicks in exchange for Raymond Felton and Kurt Thomas, it was announced today by General Manager Neil Olshey.

Felton was signed by the Trail Blazers earlier today to facilitate the sign-and-trade transaction.

"This trade allowed us to acquire multiple assets for the future without impacting our current cap position," said Olshey. "Jared Jeffries provides depth and a versatile skill to our front court. He is a consummate professional on and off the floor, competes every night and is a veteran leader for our locker room."

Jeffries, 30, carries averages of 5.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 22.4 minutes in 10 seasons with Washington, Houston and New York. Last season with the Knicks, Jeffries averaged 4.4 points (41.0% FG), 3.9 rebounds and 18.7 minutes in 39 games (four starts).

Appearing in two games for the Knicks last season, Gadzuric, 34, posted averages of 4.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 14.8 minutes in 10 seasons with Milwaukee, Golden State, New Jersey and New York.

Printezis, 27, was originally selected with the 58^th overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft by San Antonio. The forward currently plays for the Greek national team and professionally for Olympiacos in Greece.

Selected by New York with the 48^th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, Papanikolaou, 21, also plays forward for Olympiacos and the Greek national team. He led Olympiacos with 18 points, while Printezis hit the game-winning shot to go with 12 points in the team's Euroleague Championship victory over CSKA Moscow in May.

In one season with the Trail Blazers, Felton, 28, averaged 11.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 31.8 minutes in 60 games (56 starts).

Thomas, 39, finished his lone 2011-12 season in Portland with averages of 3.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 15.2 minutes in 53 games (three starts).

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter