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The Portland Trail Blazers are expected to be relatively quiet as NBA Free Agency, 2018 commences, but former Blazers players are already making a small splash on the market. The hottest name among them is Will Barton. The super-reserve for the Denver Nuggets (acquired from Portland along with a first-round draft pick for Arron Afflalo and Alonzo Gee) is said to be a hot target for his incumbent team and the Indiana Pacers. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has the details.
There's strong momentum with the Denver Nuggets and their free agent guard Will Barton to get a deal done quickly after the start of free agency at 12:01 AM, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2018
Barton has been a strong focus for the Pacers, who would pivot and search for perimeter free agent help elsewhere. Doug McDermott and Joe Harris are potential Pacers targets, league sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/gSQJnuIJT5
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2018
Marc Stein of ESPN makes clear that Barton isn’t the only Denver Nuggets player, or former Blazer, in transition.
The Nuggets continue to make Wilson Chandler, Darrell Arthur and Kenneth Faried all available via trade to deal with their looming luxury-tax crunch, but one source close to the situation said Denver might have to expand its trading-block list to include Mason Plumlee
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 30, 2018
No current Trail Blazers have been mentioned today in trade or signing rumors. The Blazers extended a qualifying offer to center Jusuf Nurkic earlier this week, declining to do the same for guards Shabazz Napier and Pat Connaughton.
Read more about Barton and free agency around the NBA in our open thread.