Report: Norman Powell Re-Signs With Blazers on Lucrative, Long-Term Deal
The Trail Blazers, and fans across Rip City, can finally breathe easy. Well, at least for a minute or two before getting back to the throes of free agency.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Norman Powell has re-upped with Portland on a five-year, $90 million deal.
Powell, whose tweet of an eyes emoji had Rip City on tenterhooks during a frenzied opening to free agency, confirmed the news on social media.
The length and total value of Powell's contract raises eyebrows at first glance, but is essentially inconsequential to Portland's here and now.
The Blazers are bound to be a far different team come 2025-26—when they'll be paying a thirty-something Powell approximately $20 million—than they are now, irrespective of how the current drama surrounding Damian Lillard is resolved. The cap is also projected to spike when the league soon signs its next TV deal.
The Blazers didn't even make Powell the highest-paid off-ball guard on the market, either. They gave him less annual money than Evan Fournier received from the New York Knicks, and the same amount the Toronto Raptors awarded old friend Gary Trent Jr.
Regardless of the price, re-signing Powell was a crucial first order of business for Portland during one of the most consequential player-movement periods in team history. Lillard has made it clear he only plans to stick with the Blazers long-term if Neil Olshey builds a title-worthy supporting cast around him, and cash-strapped Portland would've had no means of duplicating Powell's salary slot if he'd left in free agency.
Retaining Powell ensures the Blazers will at least have the chance to placate Lillard this summer with a roster shakeup that could vault them toward contention. But Powell's deal also bound to push Portland into the luxury tax, meaning Olshey only has access to the $5.9 million mini mid-level exception to add outside free agents. The full mid-level exception, available to teams over the cap but below the tax, is worth $9.5 million annually.
According to Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian, Portland signed Cody Zeller for the veteran's minimum—a bargain for a player we assumed was worth near the taxpayer's mid-level.
Some of the Blazers' potential targets with the mini mid-level, like Jeff Green and Torrey Craig, were off the board within the first hour of free agency officially beginning on Monday. Obviously, it would have been preferential for Portland if Powell was ready to commit to this deal as soon as he was allowed to.
Far more important, though, is that he's coming back to Rip City at all—charting a prospective path toward the Blazers retooling into a true contender around Lillard.