As
we heard earlier today, the Trail Blazers have indicated they will match any offer extended to Batum, so the odds he ends up in Minnesota look slim. Batum reportedly would prefer to play for the T-Wolves, as the opportunity to be on the same team as
Ricky Rubio excites the Frenchman, and Minnesota has tried to make that happen. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (
via Twitter), the team pitched a sign-and-trade involving
Derrick Williams and
Martell Webster to the Blazers, but Portland wasn't interested.
Negotiations between the Trail Blazers and Batum's agent Bouna Ndiaye have been tense throughout the year. The two sides didn't see eye to eye in January when attempting to negotiate an extension for Batum, and Ndiaye asked the Blazers last week not to talk to his client while he explored the free agent market. While a report surfaced earlier this week suggesting Batum "never wants to play in Portland again," the 23-year-old quickly took to Twitter to deny it.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
