The Portland Trail Blazers and Jusuf Nurkic needed each other, contributing to mutual agreement on a 4-year, $48 million deal to end Nurkic’s free agency and return him to a Portland uniform. SI.com’s Ben Golliver makes that claim in an article grading the move, which he gives a B+ after extensive explanation.
Golliver describes the environment in which the deal was struck:
Olshey needed to keep his best big man to placate All-NBA guard Damian Lillard and avoid backsliding following a surprising run to the West’s No.