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:
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
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.
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Norman Powell ($90M with Trail Blazers), Gary Trent Jr. ($54M with Raptors) re-signing after pre-deadline trade originally appeared on NBCSports.com