Free Agent Predictions: Aminu Gets Paid

The Portland Trail Blazers are facing a tough offseason in terms of money moves: there is no money, so it will be hard to make moves, and resigning Al-Farouq Aminu could be difficult, according to Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report. In attempting to predict offseason maneuvers for various franchises, Swartz targets Al-Farouq Aminu as the guy who deserves to be paid on the current Blazers squad. Aminu currently makes $6,957,105 and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Coming off a four-year, $30 million team-friendly contract, Aminu needs to get paid.

At 28, he’s turned into one of the better two-way forwards in the NBA, and his three-point shooting jumped to 35.3 percent over the last four years in Portland.

The Blazers would love to keep Aminu, but doing so would likely land them in the luxury tax.

As Swartz notes, the team is between a rock and a hard cap, but there is one proviso here that applies: the Blazers have Aminu’s Bird rights.

You can read Dave Deckard’s excellent breakdown of what Portland faces in the offseason here.