The Trail Blazers have been shedding salary.
The latest move: Dumping Skal Labissiere to the Hawks.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Portland is trading Skal Labissiere and cash to Atlanta, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 6, 2020
Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports:
*correction: Portland sending $2M to Atlanta. Skal will be absorbed into space. https://t.co/dKtGpsQlWk
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) February 6, 2020
The Trail Blazers come out $2,759,274 ahead between luxury-tax savings, not paying Labissiere the rest of this season and cash sent to Atlanta.
The Hawks get a more-than-fully subsidized flier on Labissiere, who’s due $924,968 the rest of this season then will be a free agent this summer. The 23-year-old possesses some interesting skills as a 3-point shooter and shot-blocker, but the NBA’s physicality is a major issue for him. If he performs well enough, Atlanta can make him a restricted free agent.