The Portland Trail Blazers will not be bystanders heading into the NBA trade deadline.
The team on Sunday traded center Mason Plumlee and a second-round pick to the Denver Nuggets for center Jusuf Nurkic and a first-round pick, according to a report from The Vertical.
The trade comes less than two weeks before the NBA trade deadline (Feb. 23) and suggests that the Blazers are shifting gears from their preseason playoff expectations after underachieving for the first four months of the season.
Nurkic, who was the 16th overall pick of the 2014 NBA Draft, adds size (7-0, 280-pounds), youth (22 years old) and defense to the Blazers’ roster. He’s played 45 games this season, including 29 starts, and is averaging 8.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 27.9 minutes per game.
He’s not as nearly as polished a player as Plumlee, nor as gifted a playmaker, but his beastly size and potential on defense were surely draws for the Blazers, who were lacking both.
So was a first-round pick in this summer’s NBA Draft, which the Blazers landed as part of the deal. That gives the Blazers three first-round picks in the 2017 NBA Draft, meaning President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey will have plenty of ammunition to add more young talent to the Blazers’ roster or make a splashy trade this summer.
The move also helps the Blazers financially, as they were staring at a hefty luxury tax bill in 2017-18 had they signed Plumlee to multiyear deal.
Plumlee is averaging 11.0 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists and has started all 54 of the Blazers’ games this season. But he will be a restricted free agent this summer and could fetch a contract exceeding $100 million.
Nurkic will make $2.9 million next season. He opened this season as a starter for the Nuggets, but lost his job to Nikola Jokic, who has established himself as a future building block for the Nuggets.
As part of the deal, the Blazers will reportedly send a 2018 second-round pick to the Nuggets and receive a 2017 first-round pick from the Memphis Grizzlies, which the Nuggets held.
Meanwhile, the Blazers (23-31) and Nuggets (24-30) are fighting for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, as the Nuggets entered Sunday leading the Blazers by one game.
Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman
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