Portland Trail Blazers: 5 key contract decisions to make in the next year

Decision #4 – Jusuf Nurkic contract guarantee

Jusuf Nurkic is the third most important player on this Blazers team. With him out injured the last few months, there’s no coincidence that the Blazers have been one of the worst defensive teams in recent history.

Nurkic’s size, passing, defense, and strength around the rim, make him such a key component behind Dame and CJ.

Nurkic is in the third year of a four-year $48 million deal, where the last year ( 2021 – 22 ) has a partial guarantee on it. Nurk is easily worth the $12 million a year that he is getting at the moment, but there is a chance that they go through some cap gymnastics next year to bring him back on a different deal.

Because of his injury history, the more likely scenario is that they guarantee the final year of his deal and see how he goes. Then at the end of 2022, they can negotiate a new deal with him based on his past performance and availability.

Nurk is a great player, but he needs to get more minutes and games behind him to put him in a strong position to negotiate a new deal next year.