Kaiser: Blazers Could Be A Fit For Chris Kaman In Free Agency?

Joe Kaiser of ESPN.com's Rumor Central includes the Portland Trail Blazers as one of five potential fits for Dallas Mavericks center Chris Kaman, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Portland -- J.J. Hickson is an unrestricted free agent, and Meyers Leonard may still be a few years away from being trusted with the starting center job. Kaman could bridge the gap between Hickson and Leonard if he signs a two-year deal with the Blazers.

The Blazers were reportedly one of two finalists for Kaman last summer.

"The last three days I've been going back and forth between Portland and Dallas and I know (Portland general manager) Neil Olshey up there pretty well," Kaman said Thursday morning when he joined Chuck Cooperstein and Tim MacMahon on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM. "The offers were both very close, so it was just kind of a call where I felt a little more comfortable and I really like Dallas the city. The organization does a great job taking care of their players and their people and I'm excited for the chance to see what I can do there."

Blazers GM Neil Olshey traded Kaman from the Los Angeles Clippers to the New Orleans Hornets in the 2011 deal that landed Chris Paul. Kaman initially expressed some frustration to Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports with how that trade went down. (As did Eric Gordon.)

Kaman found out from his real-estate agent's son.

"He said, ‘Hey, you got traded.' I was like, ‘C'mon,' " Kaman said. "Then everyone started talking to me like, ‘Hey, what happened?' I was like, ‘I don't know.' Then my agent wasn't calling me. I couldn't get ahold of him. Then Farouq talked to his agent and said it was done.

"The Clippers didn't tell me anything. They didn't tell me I was traded or nothing after eight years. They didn't have the guts to come tell me they traded me."

Olshey said he and Del Negro were in the lobby of the Clippers' practice facility waiting for the players to return from the events to discuss the trade.

Kaman, 30, is averaging 11.8 points and 6.0 rebounds in 23.1 minutes per game for the Mavericks this season.

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