Portland Trail Blazers: 3 best remaining free agents for their taxpayer MLE

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The Portland Trail Blazers still have their taxpayer mid-level exception to use to lure any other free agents they’d like to add for next season. Roster spots and cap space have been dried up around the league, leaving a few valuable players subject to pay cuts for next year. This leaves the Blazers the opportunity to add a high-level player on a discount using their exception.

After adding Cody Zeller, Tony Snell, and Ben McLemore, Portland still has a couple significant holes in their roster—particularly wing depth and playmaking off the bench. Ideally, the Blazers would walk into next season with a reserve unit consisting of a strong backup point guard, Simons, Snell, Derrick Jones Jr./free agent, and Zeller. While McLemore was a great flier contract, he should not be relied on as a full-time fourth guard in the rotation.

Here are three of the best remaining available free agents that would be worth the Blazers spending their taxpayer MLE on.

The Portland Trail Blazers can land one of these major free agents with their taxpayer MLE

Damian Lillard, Paul Millsap, Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) /

3. Paul Millsap would shore up the Portland Trail Blazers front line

Somehow, requisite professional Paul Millsap is still on the market. I outlined how valuable Millsap would be as an addition on a discount earlier this year, but didn’t really think he would be available after the sixth day of free agency.

Now, with most teams out of spending money, it’s more than realistic that Portland could land Millsap for their taxpayer MLE.

Signing Millsap would mean adding a versatile, three-position defender, a floor-spacing big, and an underrated playmaker all in one. Millsap would add both scoring and defense to Portland’s bench mob and would most likely be the first man up in the case that there’s an injury within the starting lineup.

He’d also give Head Coach Chauncey Billups the option to play five shooters without sacrificing too much interior defense. Without a true facilitator off the pine, having Millsap run the offense from the high and low-post could be the next best thing for the Blazers.