Basketball Nonsense

I know I’ve been talking about the Blazers a lot, but I think if they get a few more pieces they may be in championship contention this next year!

Chris Broussard of ESPN writes…

The Portland Trail Blazers have offered Utah Jazz free agent Paul Millsap a four-year contract worth between $32 million and $36 million, according to league sources.

The offer includes a hefty signing bonus that will make it difficult for Utah to match. The Jazz will be presented with the offer Saturday and have seven days to match because Millsap is a restricted free agent.

The Blazers Edge had this to say:

This sound similar to the “toxic offer” Jason Quick first reported earlier this week.  A large signing bonus and/or front-loaded salaries were seen as the two most likely methods for applying the most pressure to a Jazz franchise already well over the salary cap.

This offer, however, comes in quite a bit below what John Hollinger wrote would be the maximum Portland could offer Millsap: 5 years, $45 million. It would seem upon first glance that the Jazz would prefer paying the younger Millsap roughly $9 million a year compared to Boozer’s $12 million plus salary for next season and could possibly afford both next season.

If the Blazers have included the maximum allowable signing bonus of 17.5% of the total salary, the Jazz could be looking at an up front signing bonus payment of as much as $6.3 million dollars to Millsap.  Combined with the first year’s salary (which would be charged double as paying Millsap would throw them into the luxury tax),  the Jazz could be looking at a total outlay of as much as $18 million dollars this year to match this offer, assuming they do not shed any other salary.  Estimate provided by BE reader Kevin Scooter.