Blazers Face Cap Challenges This Offseason

In addition to navigating the aftermath of another premature postseason exit, the Portland Trail Blazers have their hands full as they attempt to re-tool their roster in the offseason. Inside a 30-team offseason primer, ESPN Salary Cap Insider Bobby Marks detailed the deadlines worth following, as well as examining how Portland’s immediate payroll hurdles.

Here’s how Marks assessed the Blazers’ situation:

“Keeping this roster together is going to be expensive. Although the Trail Blazers have only $107M in committed salary, Portland will blow through the luxury tax if it keeps the partially guaranteed contract of Jusuf Nurkic ($12M) and retains free agents Norman Powell and Carmelo Anthony along with restricted free agent Zach Collins. Nurkic’s contract is only guaranteed for $4 million, but it becomes fully guaranteed on Aug. 3. Powell has until Aug. 1 to opt in to his $11.6 million contract for next season, but it’s expected that he’ll opt out and seek a new long-term deal in free agency. The Blazers do have his Bird rights and can exceed the cap to re-sign him.

The Trail Blazers have the $9.5 million midlevel and $3.7 million biannual exception. However, using more than $5.9 million of the mid-level will hard cap them. Portland also has a $1.8 million trade exception.”

The Blazers had the tenth-most expensive roster in 2020-21, and they are projected to move further up the list next season. As Marks also notes, the Blazers will be able to send or receive $5.6 million in cash in deals and have all of their future first-round picks beyond this year. The link to the rest of the article can be found here (subscription required).