Blazers acting GM Chad Buchanan said the team "anticipates" it will exercise its $2.9MM option to retain forward Luke Babbitt past next season, tweets Jason Quick of The Oregonian. The option represents the fourth year (2013/14) of the rookie-scale contract Babbitt signed with the team after being selected with the 16th pick of the 2010 draft.
The University of Nevada product hasn't been used much in his first two seasons, averaging 1.8 points in just 5.9 minutes over 46 career games. Babbitt appeared to enter the rotation after the team cleaned house at the trade deadline, but with the addition of J.J. Hickson, he's seen his minutes diminish again in Portland's last two outings. LaMarcus Aldridge and Wesley Matthews are the only Blazers on guaranteed contracts for 2013/14, so adding Babbitt to the mix wouldn't compromise the team's future flexibility much.