Trail Blazers agree to four-year, $70M contract to keep Jusuf Nurkic around
Jusuf Nurkic and Portland agree to a 4-year contract worth $70 million as a new era of the Trail Blazers is born with the promising Anfernee Simons.
Center Jusuf Nurkic has agreed to a four-year, $70 million deal on Friday to stay with the Portland Trail Blazers, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The 27-year-old Bosnian has played an integral role in Portland’s consistent presence at the NBA playoffs since being traded in 2017.
Nurkic is not the only one re-signing with Portland, however. Power forward/center Drew Eubanks is also reportedly re-signing a one-year contract with the Trail Blazers.
The 25-year-old joined the team in February and averaged 14.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in 22 games for the Trail Blazers. That’s a significant difference from the 4.6 points and 3.8 rebounds he averaged with the San Antonio Spurs over three seasons.
Jusuf Nurkic stats
Back to Nurkic. With the new contract signed, Portland will have high expectations of the Tuzla-native to continue leading the team the way he has been, especially with Anfernee Simons by his side, the new hopeful young guard who has replaced CJ McCollum as franchise legend.this big guy played 56 games for Portland, averaging 15.0 points and 11.1 rebounds per game last season after being limited to fully demonstrate his talent due to ankle and wrist injuries over two seasons.
Since Nurkic joined the Trail Blazers, he has averaged 14.6 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1 steal and 1.3 blocks in 27.1 minutes per game. And even though he has not been as consistent as he could be on the court because of his injuries, he is an exceedingly productive player when healthy.
No wonder the Blazers want to keep the Bosnian around.