The Thunder Will Reportedly Match The Blazers’ Offer To Enes Kanter

The Portland Trail Blazers may have just dodged a bullet. Since free agency began on July 1, the team has been scrambling to stockpile big men – Noah Vonleh, Mason Plumlee and Ed Davis, to along with Meyers Leonard and Chris Kaman – in an admirable but shortsighted effort to bolster their diminished front-court situation after losing both LaMarcus Aldridge and Robin Lopez.

They took it one head-scratching step further last week when they offered restricted free agent Enes Kanter a four-year, $70 million contract. Kanter’s offensive game has consistently progressed over the past few seasons, and when he was dealt to the Oklahoma City Thunder at last February’s trade deadline, he brought some sorely-need scoring punch down low, particularly during the absence of Kevin Durant.

But Kanter has been widely criticized for his deficiencies on the defensive end, and no matter how desperate the Blazers were to bolster their paint presence, the trade-off quite simply wouldn’t be worth it for a team that suddenly found itself in full-rebuild mode. After trading Nicholas Batum and losing both Wesley Matthews and Arron Afflalo to free agency, they have more pressing concerns in their backcourt and on the perimeter.

These are all moot points, of course, since OKC planned to match any offer Kanter received from the very beginning. And they are planning on doing just that today, according to NBA.com’s David Aldridge:

It’s a good deal for everybody involved. Kanter gets the large payday he was looking for while being able to hide his spotty defense by playing alongside Serge Ibaka, the Thunder were effectively able to let the market set his price rather than potentially overpaying him (though he still might be overpaid), and the Blazers are now free to focus on more pressing needs with their roster. Without Kanter’s $70 million on the books, they have a lot more flexibility to do so.

(via David Aldridge)

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