Portland Trail Blazers: Three players not likely to return next season
By Jerry Trotta
The Portland Trail Blazers have several players set to his free agency this offseason. Here are three players that aren’t likely to return to the team.
There is significant hype generating around next season’s ironclad NBA free agency class, and understandably so. From LeBron James, to Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Kawhi Leonard, the league could be set for an unprecedented wave of bombs from ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski.
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Some basketball fans might get turned off by the fact that dream summer is going to be preluded by a genuine snoozer of a free agency cycle in the 2020 offseason, but that way of thinking — in our eyes at least — is not only lethargic but downright misguided.
An avalanche of squads are preparing for what is sure to be a tumultuous offseason that will force draconian ultimatums to be tackled. Enter the Portland Trail Blazers, who fall right under that category.
As of this writing, Portland has key rotational players like Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkić, Zach Collins, Anfernee Simons, and Trevor Ariza all locked up for at least the 2020-2021 season.
That leaves the likes of Hassan Whiteside, Carmelo Anthony, Rodney Hood, Mario Hezonja, Caleb Swanigan, and Wenyen Gabriel all slated to hit the open market once this season concludes. It would be unfair to gloss over impending free agents Moses Brown and Jaylen Hoard, but the two rookies barely sniffed any playing time this season.
With the current campaign on halt due to the coronavirus crisis — whose trajectory doesn’t appear to be tapering off anytime soon — it’s not outlandish to think that the agents of those aforementioned players are already pondering what the future will hold for their clients.
Likewise, Portland is probably taking advantage of this hiatus by thinking long-term. With all of this in mind, let’s put our general manager hats on and brainstorm a few players that won’t be returning to the Trail Blazers in 2020-21.