Report: Blazers Targeting Nic Batum in Free Agency
The Trail Blazers, unsurprisingly, reportedly have interest in bringing Nic Batum back to where his NBA career started. If only money wasn't an object.
Batum has emerged as a target of Portland in free agency, according to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. However, the cash-strapped Blazers would be limited to offering Batum the taxpayer's mid-level exception if Norman Powell re-signs, likely leaving them short of the price it will take sign him.
Ex-Blazer Nicolas Batum is on the Blazers radar, per a source, with Portland projecting to be limited with what it can spend by its [$5.9] million mid-level exception.
Portland's reported interest in Batum makes sense. He revitalized his career with the LA Clippers last season, playing a key, two-way role as spot-up shooter, switchable defender, offensive connector and even weak-side rim-protector.
Clippers president Lawrence Frank said on Thursday that re-signing incumbent free agents like Batum is a priority for his team. Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported two days later that LA hopes to bring Batum back despite other teams—not the Blazers—poised to chase him in free agency.
But like Portland, the Clippers—with just non-Bird Rights on Batum, who played last season under a minimum contract—can't give the veteran wing more than the $5.9 million mini mid-level.
In our rankings of Portland's potential targets with the mini mid-level, we mentioned that Batum would be an ideal fit for what Chauncey Billups' team needs on both sides of the floor. The problem isn't just that Batum is bound to receive that same offer from teams with more realistic title aspirations than the Blazers, but also that he's probably worth closer to the non-taxpayer's mid-level exception—worth $9.5 million annually—in a vacuum.
At 32 and already on the fringes of the league once, it seems unlikely Batum would take a paycut just to return to Portland—especially as the Blazers' short and long-term futures remain in flux.
Good on the Blazers for going after Batum. He's just the type of versatile, experienced forward they need to rise up a rung in the Western Conference hierarchy. But that's also why Batum will almost surely have proven too pricey for Portland once he puts pen to paper.
[Chris Mannix, Sports Illustrated]