The Portland Trail Blazers have agreed to trade Allen Crabbe to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Andrew Nicholson, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. It’s a cap clearing move for the Blazers, who will save more than $12 million off their bloated payroll next season.
Trail Blazers, Nets trade Allen Crabbe for Andrew Nicholson, per report
This is likely a cap clearing move, not an indicator that something else is coming.
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Portland will stretch waive Nicholson, per Wojnarowski. Nicholson has approximately $19 million left on his contract over three years, including a player option. By stretch waiving it, the Blazers will spread out that payment over several addition years.
It’s possible that the move is clearing a way for something else. The Blazers have been rumored to be involved in the Carmelo Anthony or Kyrie Irving sweepstakes, likely as a third team. (Anthony has reportedly said that he won’t waive his no-trade clause for Portland.) A former Portland play-by-play announcer, Mike Rice, even tweeted that the Blazers were involved in a forthcoming three-team trade for Anthony.
However, that’s all conjecture right now. For a Blazers team that desperately needed to clear salary, it makes the most sense to view the trade only in that light.
Brooklyn signed Crabbe to an offer sheet last summer, only to see the Blazers match it because Crabbe was a restricted free agency. While the Nets and the Blazers had to wait a full year before the trade could be executed, Brooklyn now gets the player they targeted just last season. Crabbe also agreed to waive a 15 percent trade kicker, which would have increased his contract by 15 percent because he was traded.
Last season, Crabbe averaged about 10.7 points on 47 percent shooting from the floor and 44 percent from behind the three-point line. Crabbe doesn’t do much else, but he’ll fit into a Brooklyn system that shoots loads of threes — fourth most in the league last season by attempts, more than even Golden State.
As for Portland, they still are well over the cap limit. Before this trade, they had about $137 million in guaranteed money on the books for next season, in large part due to C.J. McCollum’s four-year, $106 million extension kicking in. While they’ll save some money by dumping Crabbe and waiving Nicholson, they’ll still be paying hefty luxury tax penalties for going so far over the $99 million salary cap. If Portland can find another cap cutting move this offseason, there’s a very good chance they’ll take it.
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