The Raptors and Trail Blazers exchanged Norman Powell and Gary Trent Jr. just before the trade deadline.
Portland – trying to win quickly – wanted the better, though older, Powell. Toronto – content taking a step back – valued the younger Trent.
Fittingly, both are re-signing for $18 million per year, though Powell will get a much bigger financial commitment from Portland, which is also signing Cody Zeller.
Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports:
Free agent guard Norman Powell and the Portland Trail Blazers have reached an agreement on a fully guaranteed five-year, $90 million deal, league sources tell @YahooSports.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) August 3, 2021
Source: No player options for Norm Powell. https://t.co/AxUpZzuujO
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) August 3, 2021
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Gary Trent Jr., has agreed to a three-year, $54M deal to return to the Toronto Raptors, his agent and @KlutchSports CEO Rich Paul tells ESPN. Deal includes a player option on third year.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 2, 2021
Free agent C Cody Zeller has agreed to a one-year deal with the Portland Trail Blazers, his agent Sam Goldfeder of @excelbasketball tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 3, 2021
Both Powell and Trent come out ahead after prior contract decisions.
Powell declined his $11,615,328 player option and, as expected, gets a sizable raise. The real question: Will Portland re-signing Powell impress dissatisfied Damian Lillard?
Trent rejected an extension from the Trail Blazers before the season, when they could have offered him only up to $53.76 million over four years. Not only does Trent now get more over just three years, he can enter unrestricted free agency at age 24.
Zeller is a massive defensive upgrade over Enes Kanter at backup center.