JULY 7th, 12:22am: The deal is official, the team announced.
JULY 1st, 2:30pm: With Chandler Parsons no longer in play, the Trail Blazers have landed another one of their top perimeter free agents, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, who reports that Portland has reached an agreement with Evan Turner on a four-year deal worth about $70MM. As ESPN’s Kevin Pelton tweets, that’s about the most the Blazers could have offered a player without renouncing any of their own key free agents.
A former second overall pick, Turner has never developed into a star player, but the 27-year-old has been a solid role player for the Celtics over the last couple years. In 2015/16, he averaged 10.5 points per game to go along with 4.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and a .456 field-goal percentage.
The Knicks, Bulls, Pelicans, Mavericks, Lakers, Grizzlies, and Celtics had been mentioned as potential suitors for Turner, with Portland’s interest having been kept relatively under wraps. As noted above, Turner appeared to be a fallback option for the Blazers after Parsons turned down a max offer from the team.
Even after reaching a big-money agreement with Turner, the Blazers aren’t done free agent shopping. According to Wojnarowski, Portland has also made an “aggressive” offer to big man Pau Gasol. Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com first reported that the Blazers had interest in Gasol.
If Portland lands Gasol, it seems likely that at least a couple of the club’s restricted free agents will end up elsewhere. The Blazers currently have qualifying offers out to Allen Crabbe, Meyers Leonard, and Maurice Harkless.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
replacing Gerald Henderson? A lot of money to pay someone coming off the bench. How much cap room do they have left? If they can replace Crabbe with a similar type of shooter, and keep Harkless, its still an improvement on last year, but the fit is a little confusing
Yowza, fans, the Trail Blazers surely just treated us to the first Boozer Effect, didnt Turner look great after they whiffed on Parsons? And they saved themselves nearly 7 million dollars per year, what fiscal responsibility!
Thats right, Steve, and that austerity will look mighty savvy if the new CBA isnt approved!
on a side note, kent bazemore is getting at least $17-19 million a year, after this…
Not a star, but IMHO he’s one of the rest role players in the game. On O the ball moves with him and he plays a good D.
He has always had similarities to Andre Iguodala. If he can improve that 3 point shot, he could have a similar effect
Haha, as a sixes fan thats laughable. Turner is 1 of the most hesitant players in the league. Exact opposite of Iggy. Andre is all power and explosion. Turner is scared to death. Looks like a meerkat out there. Head going back and forth side to side with no clue what he’s doings. Also his defense isn’t even close to andres. He’ll try, well as much as a someone who looks like he’s about to have a panic attack can try, but even so hes not half the defender iggy is.
Thats why I didnt call him Iguodala, and simply said they have similarities in their game, while forgetting to specify that I meant the more current version of him with the Warriors, and Turners most recent role in Boston. Each guy does certain things better than the other. Personally, I’ve been a big fan of Iguodala since the night he was drafted, and would want him on my team every day of the week. He is and always was the clearly better player. But dont act like Turner isnt talented b/c he had some issues when he was young in Philly
Win win on this deal except for the Celtics who don’t have anyone to makeup the points he produced.