Portland Trail Blazers: What should Rip City do with its trade exception?

Option 1: Don’t use it at all

This may seem like the weirdest and least effective option of the four, but it actually makes a lot of sense when you take into account the current state of Portland’s payroll and where the Blazers stand in the West.

Neil Olshey and Paul Allen understand they aren’t contenders. It would take a monumental move to push the Blazers up into the upper echelon.

In fact, considering that Kyrie Irving no longer wants anything to do with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Golden State Warriors look to be the lone NBA superpower, and it’s HIGHLY unlikely any type of move puts them on Golden State’s level.

In addition, such a move would likely add another big contract to manage long-term. The Blazers already have the undeservingly high contracts of Meyers Leonard and Evan Turner to worry about, not to mention the impending contract extension of Jusuf Nurkic in 2018.

Netting another big contract by use of the trade exception would essentially undo all the cap relief that resulted from the Crabbe deal. Whether Paul Allen is willing to literally pay that price — and then some — is unknown.