The Blazers’ top goal is to sign both LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Monroe, The Oregonian’s Jason Quick reports (Twitter link). Conflicting reports paint a confused picture of whether Portland still has a realistic shot to land Aldridge, but Monroe has the Blazers on a list of four teams with which he plans to meet.
Portland has about $24.9MM in guaranteed salaries on its books, not counting whatever Al-Farouq Aminu would make on his new four-year $30MM deal. A max deal for Aldridge would start at an estimated $18.96MM and a max for Monroe would begin at an estimated $15.8MM, though those figures stand to rise with a new, higher salary cap projection. Assuming those maxes don’t grow too much higher, it would leave just about enough to squeeze in Aminu’s deal, though the Blazers only have seven players on their roster at present, so they would be hit with about $2MM in roster charges plus Aminu’s salary for next season. So, it’s likely the Blazers would either have to clear some salary via trade, buyout, or release via the stretch provision.
In any case, it seems like a long shot, but it does appear to indicate that Monroe is the team’s primary target aside from Aldridge.