Portland Trail Blazers could open max-level cap room

The Portland Trail Blazers had a fantastic season last year and will be looking to build on their success. To do that, they will need their young talent to continue to develop. That is, of course, unless they decide to go a different direction.

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Zach Lowe of Grantland explains how the Blazers can open max level cap room.

"Aldridge is the only indispensable player among those three, and he has already said he plans to sign a five-year contract with Portland after this season. The Blazers need his Bird Rights to go the full five years on that deal, and that means Aldridge’s massive $20.6 million cap hold has to sit on their books, eating into their potential cap room.And there’s the rub: Portland could open up max-level cap room in a jiffy, even with that Aldridge hold, by renouncing both Matthews and Lopez — and declining the option on one of the Robinson/Leonard duo. That’s a scenario Portland would likely want to keep in play; one of these guys is probably a goner."

The Blazers likely won’t take the chance of renouncing the rights to Wesley Matthews and Brook Lopez, who both played very well for them last season but it would be interesting if they did. Adding a star to Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge could turn into the best team in the Western Conference.

Be sure to check FanSided’s official NBA page to keep up to date on the latest news and rumors from around the league as we get you ready for the start of the 2014-2015 season.

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