The Portland Trail Blazers offseason can go from bad to worse very quickly. The first steps of that process have already got underway with Wesley Matthews reportedly expecting $15 million per year in free agency. LaMarcus Aldridge has reportedly been in cities not named Portland and he also is selling his Portland home.
Now to make matters worse, a player they brought in during the season to help them not only this season but possibly next season, Arron Afflalo, is now going to hit free agency.
Following from Peter Socotch of CSNNW.com.
Shooting guard Arron Afflalo is officially a free agent, leaving $7.75 million on the table.
Afflalo had until the end of the day Monday to opt in to his player option of $7.75 million for the 2015-16 season and play out the remainder of his contract in Portland. That time has officially come and gone with no news. Therefore, Afflalo will test the free agency waters as an unrestricted free agent.
Afflalo leaving over $7 million might be a risky move for him. He was guaranteed to get that next season so the fact that he either believes he’s worth more or can contribute to a successful team would most likely be his options.
Afflalo doesn’t do one thing particularly well but he’s also not a bad player. He can start for a team in need of a shooting guard or he can come off the bench as a quality reserve guard that can shoot and create his own offense.
But is he worth more than $7.5 million? Most likely not, but this summer, a summer that expects teams to be willing to throw money around due to the increase in cap coming in the next few years, he might just get that and then some.
