Portland Trail Blazers: 3 big questions heading into 2019-20

3. Will this offseason’s additions outweigh its subtractions?

The Portland Trail Blazers lost a lot of talent this offseason, allowing the likes of Maurice Harkless, Al-Farouq Aminu, Evan Turner, Meyers Leonard and Seth Curry to suit up for new teams in 2019. 47.48 percent of the team’s 2018 minutes are no longer in Portland. For a perennial playoff squad, that’s a lot to replace.

Luckily, Rodney Hood was brought back on a two-year deal. Players such as Mario Hezonja and Anthony Tolliver will help replenish what was lost coming off the bench. The trade acquisitions of Kent Bazemore and Hassan Whiteside could both reap significant benefits if things go smoothly.

Tasked with retooling on a budget, Olshey was able to put together a solid supporting cast for Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum despite letting plenty of production walk out the door. Nurkic will be on the shelf for at least half of the regular season — likely more — so depth will be the key to either propelling or dooming Portland in the end.

This could be a recurring theme for the franchise over the next few years. Lillard is slated to make $196 million as a result of his supermax contract extension. McCollum’s three-year, $100 extension isn’t much easier a pill to swallow. Every offseason moving forward, the team will be faced with difficult decisions to make and not much cap space to work with as a result of these hefty contracts.