The NBA is back, and the Portland Trail Blazers are prepped for a postseason run. But this offseason, here are five under-the-radar free agents worth looking into long-term.
It’s been quite some time since we’ve been able to say it, but: today’s a pretty great day to be a Portland Trail Blazers supporter.
Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Portland was among the 22 organizations invited for Orlando’s postseason play-in, which means one thing. Operation win the 2020 NBA Finals, and sign Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2021 remains in full effect.
Jokes aside, while current situations are promising, it’s never too early to take a glance into the future.
Two weeks ago, The Athletic’s John Hollinger and Jason Quick took a glance into how the salary cap could be of detriment to many of the NBA’s teams, the Blazers included.
Hollinger estimated a droppage that would set the league’s salary cap to around a $109.14 million mark, which, even if it doesn’t kill it completely, makes resigning players within their core much tougher. Should that be the case, it’s probably in the Blazers’ best interest to consider some under-the-radar, project-type signings that could round out the roster.
The Blazers won’t have their pick of the litter, especially given the amount of money they’ve shelled out already. But there are a number of non-star players that at the very least, deserve a look. One of these players — No. 4 — feels like a wild-card, in the sense that there could be a huge market for him, but it remains speculative for now.
The original list had up to a dozen players that won’t be mentioned here, but for honorable mentions’ sake, there are a few who deserve a nod: David Nwaba, Damyean Dotson and Christian Wood (if only Portland were the only team in the NBA), among others.
We’ve discussed this idea briefly before, tackling some former Blazers who could assist the team. Today, we’ll consider a few others worth taking a flyer on.