Portland Trail Blazers still being punished for Anderson Varejão trade

While it may have seemed like a savvy move at the time, the Portland Trail Blazers’ decision to deal for Anderson Varejão has had long-term consequences.

Let’s take a trip back in time. It’s 2016, right smack in the middle of February — the NBA trade deadline. The Portland Trail Blazers were $14 million under the league’s minimum cap threshold, meaning that unpaid money would be divided amongst the current roster if a move wasn’t made. President of basketball operations Neil Olshey used this opportunity to make the most of their financial situation.

On that day, Portland acquired the contracts of Anderson Varejão ($9.6 million) and Brian Roberts ($2.8 million) of the Miami Heat in exchange for some draft capital. The Blazers received a 2018 first-round pick and a 2021 second-round pick in each of these moves respectively. While Roberts would go on to finish his penultimate season playing garbage time for the Blazers, Varejão would be waived and stretched the very same day.

This provision allowed Portland to divide Varejão’s salary into five smaller installments of $1.9 million all the way through the 2020-21 season. At the time, this seemed like a small price to pay to acquire some additional talent and expedite the team’s recovery after losing LaMarcus Aldridge and Wesley Matthews.

But there was no way for the Blazers to know just how quickly their payroll would skyrocket. After Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum earned their first big extensions, the Blazers had the league’s hands deep in their pockets.

While Portland narrowly avoided paying the luxury tax in 2017 and 2018 (thanks in no small part to Varejão’s salary), their bill last year exceeded $15 million in 2019. Barring any big moves, the Blazers are expected to foot a $22 million luxury tax penalty upon conclusion of this upcoming season as well.

With each passing year, stretching Varejão’s contract instead of letting it run out its natural course is looking like a bigger and bigger mistake. But that’s okay, because of all the draft picks Portland received right?

Wrong. The 2018 first-round pick eventually became Moritz Wagner, just one selection after the Blazers took Anfernee Simons. Portland could have instead used that pick on already proven rookies such as Mitchell Robinson or Landry Shamet. But they never got to make that pick in the first place. Why? Because they traded it for… Caleb Swanigan.

I’m sure I don’t need to remind you of the failed Swanigan experiment, where the Blazers passed on Kyle Kuzma and Derrick White just to dump him off to Sacramento after only 45 games played. This series of decisions may be among Olshey’s worst since taking the helm in Portland.

To add insult to injury, Varejão wouldn’t be done haunting the Blazers just yet. He would go on to join up with the Warriors, the same team that ended up swiftly knocking out Portland in just five games. Ironically enough, the Blazers ended up paying Varejão millions of dollars to help another team beat themselves.

This is a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. One the Portland Trail Blazers likely won’t ever live down until they stop paying the man in 2022.