June 22, 2004

The Portland Trail Blazers lost Forward Desmond Ferguson to the Charlotte Bobcats in the 2004 Expansion Draft this afternoon.

Ferguson was one of 19 players around the league selected by Charlotte, the NBA’s 30th team. Complete results of the expansion draft can be seen on NBA.com.

“Consistent with what Charlotte had been saying all along,” said Trail Blazers General Manager John Nash, “We expected it was likely they would take a restricted free agent. And Desmond was the only restricted free agent we left unprotected.”

The 6-foot-7, 210-pound Ferguson was originally signed to a 10-day contract by Portland on March 26, 2004 and was signed for the remainder of the season on April 5, 2004.

The 26-year-old averaged 1.9 ppg in seven games with the Trail Blazers. Ferguson, who played his college ball at Detroit Mercy, scored a career high-five points on April 3rd vs. New Orleans, hitting two-of-three attempts from the floor.

PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS ALL-TIME EXPANSION DRAFT RESULTS

YEAR	PLAYER	SELECTED BY
2004	Desmond Ferguson	Charlotte Bobcats
1995	Jerome Kersey	Toronto Raptors
1989	Steve Johnson	Minnesota Timberwolves
1988	Michael Holton	Charlotte Hornets
1980	Abdul Jeelani	Dallas Mavericks
1974	Ollie Johnson	New Orleans Jazz