Portland Trail Blazers retain Nicolas Batum by matching Minnesota Timberwolves offer – NBA News
The Portland Trail Blazers put an end to the drama surrounding Nicolas Batum on Wednesday, when they proved they were not bluffing and matched the Minnesota Timberwolves four year $45 million offer to keep the French forward in
their line-up.
Blazers General Manager Neil Olshey made the announcement on Wednesday at summer league camp in Las Vegas.
“The decision was made a long time ago. We were never not going to have Nicolas back. We did investigate certain things with Minnesota as a due diligence deal,” said Olshey.
Wolves General Manager David Kahn had been interested in Batum for quite some years now, and felt that the French forward was the missing piece in the puzzle for Minnesota.
The Wolves already boast talent such as Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio in the line-up, and the addition of Batum would have made them a formidable team. They aggressively pursued Batum in free agency this year and gave him an offer
on July 6th. Batum made a trip to Minnesota and after talking with Coach Rick Adelman, expressed his desire to move to the Wolves.
The Wolves then started negotiating with Portland for a sign and trade deal involving Batum and were willing to send Kyle Korver and future draft picks to the Blazers in exchange for Batum. The deal did not work out and Korver
was traded by Chicago to Atlanta. Minnesota then officially filed the offer sheet for Batum, calling the Blazers bluff. But as they had said all along, the Blazers matched the offer.
“We are disappointed that Nicolas Batum will not be on our team and wish him the best in the future. However, we were prepared for the possibility of this outcome and will move forward with our other plans,” said Wolves General
Manager Kahn.
Batum will be entering his fifth season in the NBA. He averaged 13.9 points and 4.6 rebounds last year, and complained that he was unable to play freely under Blazers former coach Nate McMillan.
The Blazers had earlier put up a max offer for Indiana Pacers restricted free agent centre Roy Hibbert, but the Pacers matched the offer. Portland will now head into next season with LaMarcus Aldridge, Batum and Wes Matthews leading
the team.
The Wolves, on the other hand, have $14 million in cap space to sign additional players to play alongside Love and Rubio. They are expected to sign Brandon Roy and Alexey Shved in the coming days, while they also have eyes on Boston
Celtics restricted free agent Greg Stiemsma and Houston Rockets free agent Courtney Lee. Chicago Bulls veteran Ronnie Brewer is also one player on their list as they plan out their next move to cover up for not being able to land Batum.
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