Portland Trail Blazers: Does Wade Baldwin’s deal make a difference?

The Portland Trail Blazers recently signed two-way player Wade Baldwin to a standard contract for the rest of the season. Does he have enough time to make an impression?

The Portland Trail Blazers have one of the highest payrolls in the NBA. Most of their recent transactions have centered around shedding salary in order to avoid the $119.27 million luxury tax threshold. This will allow them more financial breathing room in the upcoming offseason.

However, in the process of making deals, the Blazers had a bit of a roster snafu. On Feb. 8, the day of the trade deadline, Portland dealt Noah Vonleh to the Chicago Bulls for the draft rights to Milovan Rakovic.

Rakovic’s rights were simply a trade piece, necessary because you can’t simply give a player to another team. At 32 years old, he will never suit up in Rip City. This left the Blazers with 13 standard contracts on the roster. The problem is that NBA requires franchises to carry a minimum of 14 standard contract players on their teams.

However, the league grants grace periods to teams that fall under the minimum. This gave the Blazers time to figure out how to fill the void. To temporarily fill the gap, they signed Brandon Rush and Georgios Papagiannis to consecutive 10-day contracts.

On Mar. 12, the Blazers finally found a solution by elevating one of their own. Portland signed guard Wade Baldwin IV to a standard NBA contract for the remainder of the season and through 2018-19. He has been with the Blazers organization since Oct. 19, 2017.

Baldwin signed on to the team under a two-way contract. A two-way deal allows players to play in the G League and also be on an NBA roster for up to 45 days. Under this new deal, Baldwin won’t have to worry about any such restrictions. His addition to the standard roster also makes him playoff-eligible.

Baldwin hasn’t seen much playing time in a Blazers uniform this season. Instead, he has spent almost of his time in the G League. Portland doesn’t have an affiliate, so he was assigned to the Texas Legends, the Dallas Mavericks‘ affiliate.

Baldwin is averaging 18.2 points, 5.1 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game in 17 appearances with the Legends. He’s pulling in those numbers despite shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 23.6 percent on his 3-pointers.

Baldwin has had his share of big nights down in the minors. On Dec. 21, 2017, he dropped 32 points in a 137-129 loss to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. He also dished out five assists and swiped six steals in the losing effort. On Jan. 16, Baldwin scored 30 points in a 119-109 victory over the Memphis Hustle. He shot 4-for-6 from beyond the arc and doled out six assists in the process.

Baldwin didn’t make his Trail Blazers debut until Mar. 6. He played in the final three minutes of Portland’s 111-87 win over the New York Knicks. Baldwin managed to notch one point, one rebound, one turnover and one foul in the short span of time allotted to him.

Unfortunately, Baldwin likely won’t receive enough playing time this season to make an impression on the court. His new contract was done to keep the Blazers compliant with the roster rules laid out in the collective bargaining agreement.

Portland is currently fighting for playoff positioning and has hit a stride with the rotation it has, winning its last 13 games. Baldwin will likely spend the remainder of this season on the bench or left on the inactive list.

However, he could get some run toward the end of the season if the Blazers clinch a playoff spot early. It should be noted the front office did gave him the opportunity to elevate his contract over fellow two-way player C.J. Wilcox.

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Like Pat Connaughton before him, Baldwin could be a project that eventually develops into a fine rotation piece. So despite the lack of playing time he’ll receive in the immediate future, Wade Baldwin still has the chance to carve out a future with the Portland Trail Blazers organization.