Portland Trail Blazers: 5 off-season roster moves they need to make

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The Portland Trail Blazers need to make a lot of smart moves this off-season, to not only keep Damian Lillard but to upgrade their roster and try to leap into the contending tier of playoff teams.

They have next to no money to spend, relying on a bunch of exceptions and potential trades to make the team better for 2022.

Which 5 off-season moves do the Portland Trail Blazers need to make?

Move #1 – Guarantee the last year of Jusuf Nurkic’s contract

The simplest move of the off-season should be Neil Olshey and the Blazers front office guaranteeing big man Jusuf Nurkic‘s final year of his four-year deal.

Putting a non-guaranteed final year on the back end of Nurkic’s contract was a smart idea by the Blazers. With his injury history at the time of signing the deal, having a partial deal made sense.

But, with Nurkic now back in the fold and healthy, the Blazers can simply pick up that last year, fully guaranteeing it so that Nurk earns the full $12 million this upcoming season.

This is straightforward and basically a done deal. They cant replace Nurk as they don’t have any cap space, so this is a done deal.