The Portland Trail Blazers are seen as a longshot to keep LaMarcus Aldridge, but we shouldn't be counting them out, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski. The Blazers are still the only team that can offer Aldridge a five-year contract and they have a plan to retool around Aldridge and several new players.
How the Blazers can keep LaMarcus Aldridge and sign Greg Monroe
It’s a longshot, but the Blazers’ “Plan A” is legal under the CBA. Here’s how.
Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports
"Plan A" is to pair Aldridge with fellow unrestricted free agent Greg Monroe on dual max contracts, according to Jason Quick of the Oregonian.
This seems like a longshot, but it is technically possible despite the Blazers’ free-agent acquisition of Al-Farouq Aminu. The Blazers have oodles of cap space and could certainly fit Monroe’s first-year max salary of around $15.8 million. There is an avenue for them to keep Aldridge’s cap hold on the books, sign Aminu and Monroe and then go over the cap to give Aldridge a five-year maximum contract.
Here’s how it would work.
Prior to signing Aminu, the Blazers had about $27.7 million committed to nine players. Portland could then renounce the rights to every one of their free agents other than Aldridge, including Wesley Matthews and Robin Lopez. Aminu, at a first-year salary around $7 million, can then sign using cap space, putting Portland at 10 players. Then, Portland could keep Aldridge's cap hold, which is $20.6 million, on the books, which brings Portland's salary number to $55.3 million. Add in a final incomplete roster charge (we explained how those work in this long piece), and Portland will have about $55.8 million in salary.
If the salary cap comes in at above $69 million, as has been reported, Portland would be very close to being able to sign Monroe with a first-year salary of $15.8 million. It may require moving one small salary in another deal -- they may have to throw in future assets to convince a team to take Chris Kaman’s $5 million contract -- but that can be done if both players decide they want to team up in Portland. Monroe could then sign his max, and the Blazers could then re-sign Aldridge to a five-year, $110 million deal.
That dream scenario, while unlikely, is possible under the CBA. It's not clear if the Gerald Henderson/Aminu/Monroe trio is better than a Matthews/Nicolas Batum/Lopez one, but it's at least a viable team. If Aldridge decides he wants to stay in Portland and team up with Monroe instead of bolting to San Antonio or any of his other suitors, Portland can provide him a strong roster that can legally be put together under the salary cap.
Again: it’s a longshot. But it’s still in play.
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