After the Kent Bazemore / Trevor Ariza trade, the Trail Blazers decided to keep the Rodney Hood injury exception, which buyout options could they sign with it?
The Kent Bazemore / Trevor Ariza trade is official now. It was confirmed this week by cap guru Jeff Siegel and then ex-Memphis Grizzlies executive John Hollinger that the Trail Blazers didn’t use the injury exception in this trade.
Can confirm what was first noted (I believe) by @jgsiegel regarding Blazers-Kings trade -- Portland is preserving the $2.859M Hood injury exception (which expires in March) rather than generate a new, smaller exception for Tolliver (which they would have had for a year).
— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) January 21, 2020
This means that the buyout market is really the only place to find a player to use the injury exception on. The Blazers don’t have any spare roster spots so would need to cut a player as well. They could either cut someone and eat the salary. Pay cash to get off someone, or make a 2 for 1 or 3 for 2 trade where they cleared a roster spot. This would probably mean as part of a Hassan Whiteside trade.
The person most likely to be cut would be Mario Hezonja, or Caleb Swanigan.
If the Blazers made room for someone on the roster by taking one of the above options they could then use the Rodney Hood $2.8 million injury exception to sign someone from the buyout market. They would be on the line for the whole $2.8 million though, as this exception isn’t pro-rated.
So the scenario would be, player X has accepted a buyout from team Y. He has sacrificed $2,8 million of his salary from his original team and will now sign for the Blazers at $2.8 million. Obviously though, the player gives up his bird rights if he accepts a buyout, so the Blazers wouldn’t be able to bring this player back if they are over the cap in the summer.
This also means that using assets to move someone to clear a roster spot isn’t a smart idea if they are only bringing someone in on the injury exception for a month or two. If the Blazers are playoff bound and could secure the seventh seed, then maybe it’s worth it. First round and out or missing the playoffs? Maybe not worth it.
Regardless though, if things change and this team makes a run at the post-season, here are some intriguing prospects that could be worth pursuing.