The Portland Trail Blazers are preparing a bid on one of the two best free agents remaining on the market. Flushed with cap space from LaMarcus Aldridge’s departure, the Blazers are have signed Oklahoma City restricted free agent Enes Kanter to a four-year, $70 million offer sheet, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com and Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski.
Blazers, Enes Kanter agree to $70 million offer sheet, per report
The Thunder will have three days to match the deal should Portland follow through on it.
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Should Kanter sign, the Thunder will have three days to decide whether to match.
Kanter was acquired at the trade deadline by the Thunder in a three-team deal that sent Reggie Jackson to the Pistons. He quickly proved to be an excellent pick-and-roll partner for Russell Westbrook and averaged 19 points and 11 rebounds on 57 percent shooting. However, he was also porous defensively, a trait that contributed to the shorthanded Thunder falling short in a bid for the No. 8 seed. It’s for that reason that SB Nation’s Thunder site Welcome to Loud City is scared that Kanter will be overpaid.
It’s not immediately clear how much the Blazers will offer Kanter. However, Oklahoma City is currently just $2.5 million under the luxury tax threshold, so matching a big Kanter contract will cost them more than double his salary in real dollars.
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