Portland Trail Blazers: LaMarcus Aldridge bought out by San Antonio Spurs

LaMarcus Aldridge has been bought by the San Antonio Spurs. The veteran big man is now a free agent and can now sign with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Shams Charania announced Aldridge’s buyout after the deadline. Because of his $24 million salary, the Spurs could not find a trade partner who could take back that amount of salary. By giving back $7.25 million of his total $24 million salary, he was able to become a free agent, while also saving the Spurs a significant amount of salary.

Portland Trail Blazers: LaMarcus Aldridge bought out by San Antonio Spurs

Though NBA Insider Charania had the above tweet where he outlined that the Miami Heat and Blazers were both in the mix to sign Aldridge, The Athletic’s beat writer Jason Quick tweeted a few hours later that the Blazers were unlikely to sign him because of the combination of Jusuf Nurkic‘s return and Enes Kanter‘s excellent play.

Though it’s a little confusing to break down, Nurk announced his return on the day that all the trade deadline news went down. Though this looks like it may stop an Aldridge signing, Harry Giles still being injured, and Nurk’s injury history should mean that nothing is set in stone until we see Aldridge actually put pen to paper with a team.

Aldridge played 648 games for the Blazers over nine years. Though he is more of a center now than a power forward, if Kanter doesn’t re-sign with the Blazers in 2022, I could see Aldridge potentially returning to Portland as a backup big man to finish his career.