The Portland Trail Blazers were clearly a team that needed some additions to their roster in free agency. While they did manage to retain free-agent Norman Powell, the majority of their core has stayed the same. Continuity certainly has its merits but after a first-round loss to the Jamal Murray-less Denver Nuggets, many expected GM Neil Olshey to at least make a minor splash on the trade market or in free agency.
It seems as though one of the players that the Portland Trail Blazers intended to target originally was Kelly Oubre Jr., who recently signed with the Charlotte Hornets. Jason Quick of The Athletic revealed that superstar Damian Lillard attempted to recruit Oubre to join the team.
The big offseason swing many expected from the Blazers was never going to come in free agency. Portland had limited tools — only the TPMLE — which wasn’t enough to lure Nicolas Batum back for a second tour (he went to the Clippers for the minimum). They also couldn’t convince Kelly Oubre to take the TPMLE, even though Damian Lillard told me he made a pitch to him at the end of the regular season.
“It wasn’t anything deep other than would he be open to it, and he said he was,” Lillard told The Athletic. “I liked Oubre as a complement to other guys I thought we would be able to get. We didn’t get them.”
Kelly Oubre Jr. signed a 2-year $26 million contract with the Hornets, far more than the TPMLE, which is valued at around $5.9 million. While the Portland Trail Blazers would have offered him the opportunity to play with superstar Damian Lillard, as well as a potential starting role, it seems as though Kelly Oubre Jr. decided to go another route. While Lillard’s recruiting didn’t work out this time, perhaps he’ll manage to convince other players to join him in Portland in the future.
