In 2015, the Trail Blazers signed Enes Kanter to a four-year, near-max offer sheet.
The Thunder matched, then later traded him to the Knicks, who recently waived him.
After all that, Portland is finally getting its man.
Kanter:
#RipCity pic.twitter.com/4dTLXyZedg
— Enes FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) February 13, 2019
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Blazers beat a crowded field for Kanter, including the Lakers, per sources. Kanter is an important addition for Blazers, where he'll play a good share of minutes. Portland signed Kanter to a $70M offer sheet in 2015, which OKC matched. https://t.co/1Qdd1Ff43G
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 13, 2019
Jusuf Nurkic is having a strong year as the Trail Blazers’ starting center. I’m unconvinced Kanter is even an upgrade over backups Meyers Leonard and Zach Collins. But at least Kanter brings a different style. He’s more of an interior presence than those two.
The Lakers’ interest surprised me. When they opened a roster spot, it appeared earmarked for Carmelo Anthony. They really tried to sign Kanter – a noted LeBron James annoyer – instead of the friend LeBron said he wanted? Kanter makes far more basketball sense than Anthony in Los Angeles, but Kanter probably isn’t good enough to justify aggravating LeBron. So, did LeBron sign off on that? Or is the Lakers’ front office operating that independently of its superstar here?