5 players NBA teams wish they could have back on the roster

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5. Wesley Matthews

The Portland Trail Blazers have been searching for a suitable supporting cast to complement their star backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum for quite some time now.

They’ve given a combined $140 million to Evan Turner, Al-Farouq Aminu and Maurice Harkless in an attempt to find those necessary complementary pieces, ones who can defend multiple positions while stretching the court with their 3-point prowess, but to no avail.

That trio has been solid, but not enough to help elevate the Blazers to where they want to go.

The funny thing is, Portland already had such a player in Wesley Matthews, a career 38.4 percent outside shooter known for his toughness and versatility on the defensive end. He was the perfect role player for Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge and likely would’ve fared the same with McCollum in a lead role as well.

In fairness to the Blazers, Matthews was a free agent in the spend-happy summer of 2016 coming off a torn Achilles he’d suffered during the previous year. They simply didn’t want to overpay for a guy who may not have ever been the same.

Seeing how well he’s bounced back now, though, Portland would’ve almost certainly been happy to spend the money had it been able to see into the future, especially when considering the team’s seemingly stale position in the Western Conference.