It’s probably safe to say at this point, Zach Collins days as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers are likely about over, as the Athletic’s Oregon reporter Jason Quick is reporting.
”Portland will not tender a qualifying offer making him an unrestricted free agent.”
The 23-year-old power forward/center was drafted tenth overall in the 2017 draft. He missed the entire 2020-2021 season due to surgeries on his left ankle. Collins also underwent surgery in June, a second revision surgery as the team called it, to repair a left medial malleolus stress fracture, and is listed by the team as out indefinitely.
In October 2019, Collins dislocated his left shoulder during a Blazers 121-119 win over the Dallas Mavericks and underwent surgery. He appeared in 11 games that season. Collins returned to Portland’s lineup in the Orlando bubble helping them clinch a playoff spot in the final games leading up to the playoffs.
In his years playing in the NBA, Collins had appeared in 154 games averaging 5.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks, while shooting .44.4% and .32.4% from three. The most games he has played was 77 in the 2018-2019 season.
Collins was originally a restricted free agent in which he could have signed an offer sheet with any team with Portland having the ability to match the offer from the other team. However, now being an unrestricted free agent, he is free to sign with any team, including the Blazers if they wanted to bring him back and if he wants to return to Portland. There is no word if any team might be interested in signing Collins. If Collins is not immediately signed by a team, perhaps he’d benefit by playing overseas or on an NBA G-League team.