Portland Trail Blazers: 3 reasons Jusuf Nurkic contract is a good one
By Ty Delbridge
2. The Blazers need for a center
If the Blazers had lost Nurkic this season, they did not have the cap space to go out and offer Clint Capela or DeAndre Jordan a contract, or the assets to make a flashy trade for another center without breaking the star backcourt up.
Nurkic is a young, talented center that has the tools to be a top big man in the league. It would have been hard for Portland to find a player of his skill-set this summer.
According to ESPN‘s Chris Haynes, Portland did attempt a sign-and-trade with the New Orleans Pelicans for DeMarcus Cousins, but it got nixed. Even if they had added Cousins, he is coming off a torn Achilles and won’t be back until January or February. It was not reported what the Blazers would’ve had to give up to trade for Cousins.
ESPN Sources: Portland and New Orleans had discussed the possibility of a sign-and-trade for DeMarcus Cousins, but a road block existed since he shares the same agent as RFA Jusuf Nurkic.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 3, 2018
They lost Ed Davis at the start of free agency, so that just left them with Zach Collins, Caleb Swanigan and Meyers Leonard as the only big men with guaranteed contracts next season.
Portland almost had no choice to bring back Nurkic as their starting center for next season. He is 7’0”, 280 pounds and can handle the dirty work down low. Since joining Portland, he’s started 98 of the 99 games he has played in.
For a team like the Blazers that’s coming off a season with the third-best record in the Western Conference, it couldn’t afford to lose its starting center and replace him with a new guy that doesn’t know the system. Bringing Nurkic back helps this team get into position to try and repeat last year’s regular season success.