Just a couple hours after retaining restricted free agent Meyers Leonard, the Portland Trail Blazers have made the decision to match the Brooklyn Nets offer sheet of $75 million for guard Allen Crabbe.
The Portland Trail Blazers have matched Allen Crabbe's four-year, $75M offer sheet with Brooklyn, league source tells @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 10, 2016
It’s most definitely a risky move for Portland to hand out nearly $19 million per season to a guard that averaged 10.3 points a season ago.
Though, the reasoning behind this decision is rather simple. Crabbe projects to be an elite-level scoring option moving forward. He shot 46 percent from the field, including a 39 percent mark from three-point range this past season.
Also, averaging double-digit points in just 26 minutes of action is a solid number for the team’s first guard off the bench behind Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.
Today’s NBA market is all about projecting, and the Blazers are expecting big things from Crabbe moving forward.
Coupled with the $41 million Portland gave Leonard, the team has now doled out $116 million to two non-starters in just one day.
Welcome to the new NBA.