With the Portland Trail Blazers recently being swept by the New Orleans Pelicans, the franchise has plenty of big decisions to mull through this summer, including the free agency of starting center Jusuf Nurkic and backup big man and key role player Ed Davis.
However, it may not be hard for the team to convince the pair to re-sign, as both Nurkic and Davis expressed their desire to stay in Portland, according to Sean Highkin, who attended the Trail Blazers’ exit interviews:
Jusuf Nurkic: “Obviously everybody knows where I want to be (in free agency). I want to be here. It’s not a secret. But I can’t control that stuff. I do my part on the court and my agent handles the rest.” pic.twitter.com/GqVzPmSeW4
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) April 22, 2018
Ed Davis: “For sure, 100%” he wants to be back in Portland. “I’ve been here three years. The comfort level is here. First-class organization. … This team has a lot of potential.” pic.twitter.com/xQ931AiyzR
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) April 22, 2018
With the Blazers struggling to add talent around the star duo of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum in recent years, it will be interesting to see if the team decides to bring back Nurkic – who was arguably the Northwest Division-winning Blazers third-best player this past season, and Davis – who was key rebounder and defender off the bench, or to wait it out and see if the franchise can attract the star to Rip City this offseason.
After handing out questionable deals to the likes of Evan Turner, (four years, $70 million) Meyers Leonard, (four years, $41 million) and Maurice Harkless (four years, $42 million) the Blazers will most likely take a more cautious approach to handing out large contracts to role players this summer.
