Lowe: Jusuf Nurkic Turned Down a “Rich” Contract Extension Last Fall

Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic turned down a “rich, four-year extension” last fall, according to Zach Lowe of ESPN. Nurkic received the one-year, $4.75 million qualifying offer from Portland on Wednesday:

Nurkic turned down a rich, four-year extension in the fall, league sources say, and might struggle to find any team other than Portland willing to offer more than the midlevel. Portland could try to retain him long-term at a courtesy salary just above that -- say, $11 million or $12 million per year -- and dare Nurkic to do better.

It was reported last October by Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports that Nurkic expected to enter restricted free agency with no extension offer made at that time.