A whole lot of Trail Blazers fans have been waiting for the team to make a trade
this offseason. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Portland has done just
that, though it’s not the move many seemed to be expecting.
According to Wojnarowski, the Trail Blazers have traded guard Allen Crabbe to
the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for power forward Andrew Nicholson. But don’t
bother buying that jersey just yet, as Wojnarowski is also reporting Portland
will waive Nicholson immediately…
Portland has traded Allen Crabbe to Brooklyn for Andrew Nicholson, league
sources tell ESPN.
Portland will waive and stretch Nicholson’s contract, league source tells ESPN.
Portland will waive and stretch Nicholson’s contract, league source tells ESPN.
You might recall it was the Nets who tendered Crabbe, who averaged 10.7 points
on 47 percent shooting from the field and 44 percent shooting from three, 2.9
rebounds and 1.2 assists in 28.5 minutes per game last season, the offer sheet
he signed as a restricted free agent last year, so in this deal, Brooklyn gets
the player they wanted, and with one less year left on his contract. As for the
Trail Blazers, the motivations seem to be financial, as trading Crabbe, cutting
Nicholson and then using the stretch provision to stretch (naturally) the cap
hit from the remainder of his contract over the next seven seasons saves
Portland a boatload of money according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks…
$2.8M cap hit on the Andrew Nicholson contract for the next 7 years.
https://t.co/ItXojipXMq
Portland will see their current luxury tax bill drop from $48.3M to $4.4M with
the Allen Crabbe trade to… https://t.co/8AQO0BCHSB
The stretch on Nicholson helps with the Jusuf Nurkic pending 2018 FA (or rookie
extension). Portland has $110M committed in 2018-19.
There’s also one other thing the Trail Blazers get out of the deal: a trade
exception, which a team acquires when they send out more money in a trade then
they receive back…
Portland will also generate a $12.9M trade exception that will expire next
summer.
Talked to numerous GM’s who felt the stretch provision was the new amnesty going
forward. Keep an eye on those contracts signed in 2016.
Some have wondered if perhaps this move is the first of a serious of trades.
That could very well be the case, though it could could also just be a move to
thin out the wing position, one where the Trail Blazers still have Evan Turner,
Maurice Harkless and Al-Farouq Aminu, while getting closer to the luxury tax
line. Time will tell!
Player: Allen Crabbe
Media Content:
http://www.nba.com/blazers/forwardcenter/wojnarowski-blazers-trade-crabbe-brookly
n-nicholson
Media Keywords: NBA, Sports, Portland Blazers, Allen Crabbe, Portland Trail
Blazers
Media Thumbnail:
http://i.cdn.turner.com/drp/nba/blazers/sites/default/files/crabbe_1190_072517.jp
g
Taxonomy: forward center
Story Link:
http://www.nba.com/blazers/forwardcenter/wojnarowski-blazers-trade-crabbe-brookly
n-nicholson
