Blazers reportedly pluck Payton from Golden State, re-sign Nurkic and Simons as NBA free agency beginsThe NBA teams could sign free agents in advance of the 2022–2023 season on Thursday, and the Portland Trail Blazers wasted no time in inking contracts. Three new contracts were promptly signed by the Blazers, bolstering both their frontcourt and backcourt, per various press reports.
Two standout guards from the previous season—one who played for the Blazers and the other who just won an NBA championship last month—have signed contracts with Portland. The Blazers also returned a focal point of the team’s interior design at the same time.
According to multiple news outlets, the Blazers have reached a three-year deal with Gary Payton II worth $28 million. Payton II is entering his seventh season in the NBA, after his most successful season in the league last year, hitting career highs in categories such as minutes played and points and rebounds per game. In a reserve role for the Golden State Warriors last season, Payton II proved his value in the playoffs as well. He scored 15 points in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, a 104-94 win over the Boston Celtics.
Gary Payton is a familiar name to Northwest sports fans. Payton II is the son of NBA Hall of Famer Gary Payton, who played most of his career for the Seattle SuperSonics. Both Payton and Payton II played college basketball at Oregon State University. The younger Payton played two years as a Beaver, averaging 14.7 points per game.
The Blazers also re-signed a breakout player of their own from last season, by reaching a four-year, $100 million contract with guard Anfernee Simons. In a season complicated by injuries and trades, Simons was one of Portland’s most consistent scorers and playmakers, averaging career highs in multiple categories, including points (17.3 per game) and assists (3.9 per game), in just under 30 minutes per game.
Jusuf Nurkic signed a contract worth $70 million over four years, according to multiple news outlets. When healthy, Nurkic can be an integral part of the Blazers on both offense and defense, averaging 15 points and 11 rebounds per game. But the last three seasons, Nurkic has missed a significant number of games due to injury, weakening the team’s frontcourt.
The Trail Blazers, who missed the NBA Playoffs for the first time since 2013, are continuing their busy offseason with these three changes. The front staff has made it clear that they are interested in making big upgrades to the squad before the 2022–2023 season, especially in light of the Blazers apparently receiving purchase offers under General Manager Joe Cronin.
According to Cronin, an NBA team may be strengthened in three different ways: through the draft, trades, and free agent signings. Now that the Blazers have completed all three, there is still a long offseason ahead of them.
The Blazers selected Jabari Walker, who spent two years playing at University of Colorado, and Shaedon Sharpe, an intriguing high school star who enrolled at University of Kentucky but did not participate in competitive basketball last year.
Using some financial wiggle room from a previous trade, Cronin acquired Jerami Grant from the Detroit Pistons a few days before the NBA Draft. With an average of 19 points per game last season, Grant—who has expertise playing both forward positions—led the Pistons in their defeat.
For those keeping track, the Blazers have added three players whose fathers had lengthy NBA careers:Payton II, aka the son of “The Glove”; Walker, whose father Samaki Walker played 10 years for the six different teams; and Grant, the son of former Blazer Harvey Grant.
