Cam Thomas, Jonathan Kuminga, Quentin Grimes, and Josh Giddey have all had restricted free agency negotiations drawn out into September. There's a reason for this: outside of Giddey, these are all score-first players who don't impact winning in multiple aspects.
The Portland Trail Blazers must closely monitor this offseason and how little leverage these teams have in negotiations.
Blazers must be proactive with Shaedon Sharpe
Of the four key restricted free agents, Thomas is the only one whose situation has finally been resolved. ESPN's Shams Charania reports that Thomas and the Brooklyn Nets could not reach a new deal, so Thomas is signing a $6 million qualifying offer. He ultimately decided to bet on himself, sacrificing less money in the short term to make more down the road and have more control over his future as an unrestricted free agent next summer.
This was a tricky situation for the rebuilding Nets to navigate as they had little leverage. Thomas was a key piece on Brooklyn's roster and aligned well with their rebuilding timeline, but to keep him around long-term would require overpaying him, limiting their ceiling.
Teams must be more selective with the deals they hand out under the new CBA, which has negatively affected the market of score-first players. That applies to Portland's situation with rising star Shaedon Sharpe, who has similar question marks surrounding his "empty stats."
Sharpe is coming off the best statistical season of his young career, averaging 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists on 45/31/79 shooting splits. At the same time, he was also benched midseason for his lack of defense, and the Blazers were better off because of it.
Going by last year's defensive ratings, Sharpe is now the worst defender on Portland's roster with Anfernee Simons out of the equation. Offensively, he's also limited as a playmaker and struggles with his shot from beyond the arc. He has a tantalizing star upside worth investing in, but there are concerns surrounding whether he will ever put it all together and become a more complete player.
The offseason additions of aging star guards Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday also make Sharpe more expendable in the backcourt, especially for a Blazers team that is questionably accelerating their rebuild. Sharpe may value himself more highly than the Blazers do. If he hits restricted free agency, it could easily become the next version of Thomas, Kuminga, or Grimes.
Portland must learn from these other teams' mistakes and proactively look to avoid repeating history. They have until the start of the 2025-26 regular season to extend Sharpe. They need to seriously ask themselves if Sharpe is the type of player they consider a core piece worth continuing to invest in -- if not by October, then by February's trade deadline.