Portland Trail Blazers: 4 Trade Deadline Week Rumors

1. The Quest To Clear Payroll

The Portland Trail Blazers are well within the playoff picture. General manager Neil Olshey knows that and does not want to compromise that with any deal he makes.

At the same time, Portland is doing what it can to avoid the luxury tax line. The luxury tax line is the most a team can spend on their player payroll before a surcharge is added to every dollar a team goes over the line. The line is set at $113.3 million for 2017.

According to The Vertical, the Blazers are currently at $112.9 million, the third-highest payroll in the league.

The team’s motivation was apparent in the Plumlee-Nurkic trade. Mason Plumlee was in the final year of his rookie contract, making $2.3 million and going to restricted free agency this summer. The qualifying offer would have been $3.4 million.

Acquiring Nurkic gives them a player that is only making $1.9 million this season, the penultimate of his rookie contract. Next year he’ll make $2.9 million before commanding a $4.1 million qualifying offer in restricted free agency in summer 2018.

But the acquisition didn’t just bring savings. It also brought an inside presence that can both protect the rim and post-up on offense, and he’s also young enough to grow his game even more.

The Blazers are doing what they can to have it both ways. It’s going to take a lot of shrewd dealing to be able to do so. But if Portland is successful in their quest, Olshey and the Blazers’ front office will look like magicians in the end.