Portland Trail Blazers center Festus Ezeli out for the season

Festus Ezeli has yet to suit up for the Portland Trail Blazers, and there’s now a good chance he never does.

Festus Ezeli left the two-time defending Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors for a two-year deal with the Portland Trail Blazers last offseason, but things have not gone according to plan.

Left knee surgery in August sidelined him for the start of the season, with a reported setback in November and indications way back in December that a second, season-ending, knee surgery was likely.

The Trail Blazers were reportedly looking to trade Ezeli as last month’s deadline approached, in a clear salary dump with him making $7.4 million this season. They of course found no takers for an injured player with no return in sight this season. The acquisition of Jusuf Nurkic from the Denver Nuggets in mid-February has helped offset Ezeli’s absence and then some, so Saturday’s news is not surprising:

Ezeli will undergo knee surgery soon, and he will officially miss the entire 2016-17 season. He is due to make $7.7 million next season, in the second and final year of his deal with Portland. But just $1 million of that is fully guaranteed, and the salary cap-strapped Trail Blazers can avoid the remainder of that money by waiving Ezeli before the end of June. It seems like an obvious move to part with Ezeli, and it could happen long before any sort of deadline to do so.

Next: NBA Mock Draft: Week 17

Ezeli has played just 92 games over the last four seasons, with two seasons now completely missed due to injury. It’s aggressive to say anything definitive about his career going forward, since he’s still just 27 years old. But the history of big men with ongoing lower body issues is not great, and Ezeli may never come close to living up to his status as a first round pick.