3 buyout candidates for the Portland Trail Blazers to monitor
By Andy Quach
The Portland Trail Blazers currently have 13 players signed on for next season, allowing them two remaining slots for minimum contracts. Portland is at least eight-deep as stands, with Anfernee Simons, Cody Zeller, and newly acquired Larry Nance Jr. all but guaranteed to receive significant playing time. The Blazers have the luxury to form two complete five-man units if they allot minutes to two players out of Tony Snell, Nassir Little, and Ben McLemore.
Even with a 10-deep rotation and the instrumental addition of Nance Jr., Portland’s remaining depth still has some glaring holes. A true backup floor general behind Damian Lillard and a third-center are the most abhorrent.
Leaving those needs unfilled would be asking for disaster to strike in the case of an injury. If Lillard misses time, the team is left without any primary playmakers and will have to shoehorn CJ McCollum into one, leaving the bench without a comfortable ballhandler. If one of Jusuf Nurkic or Zeller suffers any ailments, the team is left with just one true center. If both happen to be shelved at the same time, Portland is stranded without a single rim protector.
The Portland Trail Blazers could fill their remaining roster holes with a buyout candidate
While the Portland Trail Blazers have room to spare on their roster, other teams find themselves too deep. Teams like the San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors, and Houston Rockets currently have more players signed on than they’ll be allowed to carry into the upcoming season according to hoopsrumors. That makes some of their extra depth vulnerable to cuts or buyouts. In this situation, one team’s excess could be another team’s “break in case of emergency” stopgap.
There are multiple valuable veterans that could be subject to the axe as they found themselves on rebuilding teams either in part of a teardown or included in a trade as salary-filler. These following players, if bought out, could provide meaningful depth to a Blazers roster burgeoning on completion.