Portland Trail Blazers: Grading the Tim Quarterman trade

The Portland Trail Blazers traded guard Tim Quarterman to the Houston Rockets in exchange for cash considerations.

Also: Portland Trail Blazers sign R.J. Hunter to 2017 NBA Summer League deal.

The Portland Trail Blazers were involved in the series of moves that landed Chris Paul with the Houston Rockets Wednesday morning, trading backup guard Tim Quarterman to the Rockets for cash considerations.

Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical was the first to report the Quarterman trade via Twitter.

Many were confused as to where Quarterman would be landing due to longtime NBA reporter David Aldridge reporting that Quarterman, following his trade to the Rockets, was subsequently traded to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of Houston’s package for Paul.

To clarify, Aldridge’s original tweet turned out to be false, which Aldridge later admit to being an honest mistake.

While losing Quarterman may not have been a big-time move, there were a few interesting repercussions worth discussing.

1. Blazers shed cap space, free up roster spot

The Blazers had 16 guys on the roster prior to the Quarterman trade. By trading Quarterman, they drop the roster down to 15 — only 14 of which are guaranteed contracts.

Additionally, the Blazers let go of Quarterman’s non-guaranteed $1.31 million. His contract was hardly the biggest problem they had on the books, but for a team that was trying to dump salary leading up to the draft, every little bit helps.

Trading away Quarterman, freeing up a roster spot and taking back nothing but cash considerations was a great short-term move.

2. Blazers sign R.J. Hunter to Summer League

Per Jason Quick of Comcast SportsNet Northwest, the Blazers were originally hoping to trot out a 2017 NBA Summer League starting lineup of Tim Quarterman, Pat Connaughton, Jake Layman, Caleb Swanigan and Zach Collins.

Now that Quarterman is gone, the Blazers have signed guard R.J. Hunter to a Summer League deal. According to Quick, Hunter will fill the Summer League point guard spot originally meant for Quarterman.

Hunter, 23, was drafted by the Boston Celtics with the 28th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. He last played for the Long Island Nets, the G-League affiliate of the Brooklyn Nets, prior to which he played for the G-League’s Windy City Bulls while he was a member of the Chicago Bulls.

Hunter averaged 18.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 steals in 30.9 minutes per game last season in the G-League. He shot 38.6 percent from the field and 31.8 percent from behind the arc, playing a total of 29 G-League games.

3. Blazers Twitter continues to impress

The Blazers Twitter page decided to have some fun in the aftermath of the Quarterman trade, tweeting out the gem above. Though not to be taken too seriously, it was an absolutely hilarious move on Portland’s part, once again proving why the Portland Trail Blazers have the best Twitter page in all of sports.

Grading the trade

Next: 2017 NBA Draft grades for all 30 teams

All things considered, this was a solid team effort by the Blazers organization.