Casey Holdahl

This Thursday at 3 p.m. (6 p.m. on the east coast), the NBA’s yearly moratorium goes into effect. What this means ostensibly is that most official NBA business, such as trades and signing free agents, cannot be conducted until the after the moratorium expires the morning of July 6.

But what the moratorium really signals is the start of free agency. While teams and free agents cannot enter into official agreements until after the moratorium, mutually-interested parties can negotiate terms with the intent of officially signing when business is allowed to resume a week later. Teams are also severely limited in what public comments they’re allowed to make during the moratorium, though players (and their agents) generally have no such restrictions.

Are these rules actually followed? Not all of them, though the league negating trades and issuing penalties due to violations of various moratorium rules last year might keep teams in line this time around. But we here at Trailblazers.com honor and respect the NBA’s edicts, so you’ll read no discussion of free agency in these parts until after July 6.

But we can look at where the Trail Blazers stand in terms of their own players who are entering free agency. There’s been plenty of consideration of Anfernee Simons being a restricted free agent -- meaning the Trail Blazers have the right to match any offer another team tenders -- and Jusuf Nurkic hitting unrestricted free agency, but Portland actually has six players (eight if you include two-way players, which, for this discussion, we are not) who will be free agents and a few who are also eligible for extensions come Thursday night.

Three players -- Damian Lillard, Eric Bledsoe and Nassir Little -- are eligible for contract extensions. The team can offer Lillard, who is currently under contract through the 2024-25 season (with the last season being a player option), a two-year extension worth upwards of $100 million, and there’s no reason to think they won’t (and some reporting says they will).

It’s pretty much the opposite for Bledsoe. There has been no indication the team will look to extend the 12th-year guard, who was acquired as a part of the trade that sent Norman Powell and Robert Covington to the Clippers, and with just $3.9 million of his salary guaranteed if he’s waived by the end of the moratorium, the likelihood of an extension seems incredibly remote.

As for Little, it’s certainly possible he and the team come to an agreement on an extension, though after playing 48, 48 and 42 games in his first three seasons, it seems both parties likely have cause to take a wait-and-see approach. For what it’s worth, that is the tact the team took with Anfernee Simons.

Before we get to the free agents currently on Portland’s roster, we need to quickly consider the state of the team’s financials. Without getting into too great of detail, the Trail Blazers are over the cap, which will reportedly be somewhere around $123 million, for the 2022-23 season but are under the luxury tax, expected to come in somewhere around $150 million.

So that means the Trail Blazers technically have no “cap space” with which to sign free agents. But this is where tools such as exceptions and bird rights come into play.

By being over the cap but under the tax, the Trail Blazers can utilize the midlevel exception, which is expected to be worth somewhere between $10.5 and $11 million per season, making it by far Portland’s most useful tool in bringing in a free agent not currently on the roster. However, they also have the biannual exception, which is expected to be worth in the neighborhood of $4 million for the upcoming season. So even though they don’t have cap space, they do have two exceptions with which to sign free agents. Those exceptions can be split up among multiple contracts and do not have to be used in full.

They also have another tool for keeping the free agents who are currently on their roster. In an effort to help teams retain their own players, the NBA allows team to re-sign players, dependent on the length of their previous contract, even if they don't have the requisite cap space do to so, a privilege known as "bird rights." Bird rights are given to players who have been on the team for at least two years (which are known as “partial” bird rights) or longer (which typically would give a team “full” bird rights). Worth pointing out here that bird rights are usually transferred in trades and only go away when a player is waived. So for instance, even though Joe Ingles has only been a Trail Blazer since February, Portland owns his full bird rights since his current contract, originally signed with the Jazz, was for four years.

So with all that said, here’s the current status of Portland’s free agents to be going into the moratorium.

Jusuf Nurkic: Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic is an unrestricted free agent, though the Trail Blazers have full bird rights, allowing them to generally go over the cap in order to sign the Bosnian center to a new contract. Trail Blazers General Manager Joe Cronin has noted on multiple occasions that the team values Nurkic, so most expect he will be back in Portland next season.

Anfernee Simons: The Trail Blazers extended the qualifying offer to Anfernee Simons Wednesday morning, making the 6-3 guard a restricted free agent. Like Nurkic, the Trail Blazers own Simons’ full bird rights and the team has made it very clear that they consider him an integral part of their plans going forward, so all indications are Simons will be back next season. And not for nothing, Simons has already stated his desire to return.

Joe Ingles: The veteran guard/forward out of Australia will be an unrestricted free agent, though as previously mentioned, the Trail Blazers own his bird rights, something Joe Cronin mentioned specifically after the trade. And for his part, Ingles has stated interest in returning.

Ben McLemore: After signing a one-year contract with the Trail Blazers for the 2021-22 season, veteran guard Ben McLemore will be an unrestricted free agent. Portland does not own his bird rights since he was on a one-year contract.

CJ Elleby: Portland signed CJ Elleby to a two-year contract after selecting the guard/forward in the second round of the 2020 Draft. As far as I know, the team has not extended a qualifying offer to Elleby (this is probably moot anyway), though the Blazers own partial bird rights, allowing them to go over the cap to re-sign him, but at limited amounts and for at least two seasons. If Elleby does come back, one would assume it would be on a new, minimum contract rather than utilizing his early bird rights.

Elijah Hughes: Trail Blazers guard Elijah Hughes, who Portland acquired at the 2022 trade deadline, will be an unrestricted free agent, though the Trail Blazers own partial bird rights. Assumption here is the same as with Elleby.

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Free Agency Primer: Where The Blazers Stand Heading Into The Moratorium

The NBA's July moratorium isn't even over yet, so we're still a ways away from knowing what Portland's roster will look like come the start of the 2016-17 regular season. But there is no such mystery, at least not anymore, regarding who the Trail Blazers will be taking to Las Vegas.

On Tuesday, the team announced their 2016 Summer League roster and as expected, current Trail Blazers Noah Vonleh, Pat Connaughton, Cliff Alexander and Luis Montero are all on the team, as is rookie second round Jake Layman out of Maryland, who was acquired from the Magic during the 2016 Draft for a future second round pick and cash considerations. As for the rest of the roster, it's rounded out with undrafted rookies, players who recently saw time in the D-League and overseas and even a few familiar faces...

Though many of these players, if not all of them, have been working out at the team's facility in Tualatin, summer league practices officially run from July 6th through July 8th, with their first game scheduled for July 9th at 1 pm versus the Phoenix Suns at COX Pavilion on the campus of UNLV. That game, along with their contests versus the Spurs on the 10th, the Jazz on the 12th and whenever and whoever they play in the summer league tournament, will be broadcast on NBA TV.

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Familiar Faces Highlight Portland's 2016 Summer League Squad

The relationship between Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver predates both of their current occupations. When the two first sat down for a interview back in 2010, McCollum had not yet been drafted by the Trail Blazers with the 10th overall pick of the 2012 Draft (though that would happen later that night) and Silver, while already tabbed to take over for outgoing commissioner David Stern, was still pulling duty as deputy commissioner.

Every year since then, McCollum and Silver have met up in New York City after the end of the season to discuss topics pertaining to the NBA and society in general. In 2014, they discussed the situation with the previous Los Angeles Clippers ownership, the age limit, emerging technologies, Silver's first year as the NBA's head honcho and their favorite Jay-Z tracks. In 2015, McCollum, armed with a few seasons of experience and a new job at The Players' Tribune, followed up on some of the questions from the year before regarding the age limit while also bringing up issues such as ads on jerseys, transparency in officiating and head injuries.

And in their fourth annual interview, released on The Players' Tribune as a part of McCollum's summer internship with the athlete-owned website, the two discuss how far they've come (or in CJ's case, how much weight he's lost) since their first meeting in 2012, Silver's handshakes, whether the NBA would have their All-Star Weekend at "remote locations" like the NFL, whether the league is considering moving the 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte, the 2016 NBA Finals and the suspension of Draymond Green and recent efforts to increase diversity in NBA front offices. You can watch an excerpt of the interview in the above video, or read the entire Q&amp;A over at The Players' Tribune.

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VIDEO: McCollum And Commissioner Silver Have Their Yearly Reunion

Few thought the Portland Trail Blazers would make the playoffs when the NBA regular season started back in November. And even those who did believe that Portland could overcome significant roster turnover to make the postseason, it's hard to imagine that even they figured the Trail Blazers would still be playing come the beginning of May.

After winning their first round, best-of-seven playoff series 4-2 versus what ended up being a significantly hobbled Los Angeles Clippers squad, the Trail Blazers now advance to the Western Conference semifinals to take on the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors, with Game One scheduled to tip off Sunday at 12:30 pm at Oracle Arena.

As was the case versus the Clippers, Portland's matchup versus Golden State is the first time the two teams will have met in the postseason. The Warriors took the 2015-16 season series 3-1, with their wins coming by an average of 20.3 points. But on the plus side, the Trail Blazers handed Golden State one of their nine losses this season, blowing out the defending champs 137-105 in the first game back from the All-Star break.

And there's also the matter of Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, who is expected to miss at least the first two games of the series with a sprained MCL in his right knee. The reigning MVP, who is expected to win the award again this season, averaged 32.5 points on 54 percent shooting from the field and 53 percent shooting from three, 6.3 assists and 3.8 rebounds versus the Trail Blazers this season, so the fact that he's sitting out at least the first game of the season certainly helps Portland's chances. However, the Warriors still managed to beat the Houston Rockets in the first round with Curry sidelined and the Trail Blazers struggled at times to eliminate a Clippers team playing without Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, so even with Curry out, Golden State are still the heavy favorites, especially playing at Oracle Arena, where they've lost just twice during the regular season.

Before the series starts on Sunday, brush up on the matchup by perusing some of the pertinent details of the previous meetings this season

Game One — Sunday, May 1: Trail Blazers vs. Warriors at Oracle Arena, 12:30 pm on ABC, 620 AM and ESPN Radio

Game Two — Tuesday, May 3: Trail Blazers vs. Warriors at Oracle Arena, 7:30 pm on TNT and 620 AM

Game Three — Saturday, May 7: Warriors vs. Trail Blazers at Moda Center, 5:30 pm on ABC and 620 AM

Game Four — Monday, May 9: Warriors vs. Trail Blazers at Moda Center, 7:30 pm on TNT and 620 AM

Game Five* — Wednesday, May 11: Trail Blazers vs. Warriors at Oracle Arena, Time TBD on TNT and 620 AM

Game Six* — Friday, May 13: Warriors vs. Trail Blazers at Moda Center, Time TBD on ESPN and 620 AM

Game Seven* — Monday, May 16: Trail Blazers vs. Warriors at Oracle Arena, 6 pm on TNT and 620 AM

"We thought (the Clippers) was tough without (Chris Paul) and Blake (Griffin), but that’s a championship team. Even without Steph (Curry), they’re still a championship team. We’ve got to keep our mind right, compete and play together. We can’t be worried about who’s not out there because we just watched them beat Houston by 25 twice without Steph. We’ve just got to keep improving on the things we’ve done well and be locked in defensively.

Lillard on how they beat the Warriors during the regular season...

"To beat them we basically had to outscore them. Against a team like that, when you don’t get stops and you let them get rolling, if we weren’t making shots the way we were, we probably would have lost by 30. We can’t let them be that comfortable, as comfortable as they were that night. They’re going to make shots, we can’t be discouraged by that, but every possession matters when you’re playing against a team like that because they always one three away from running off on you. So we’ve just got to be ready for that."

"They pose a lot of problems. Historically speaking, they had a really good year breaking the record for wins, losing one game at home I believe this year, so you know it’s going to be a tough environment. Offensively, even without Steph (Curry), they do a great job of moving the ball. Draymond (Green) is the head of the snake now that Steph’s out, and he moves the ball well. He’s the heart and soul of the team and he gets everybody involved. Klay (Thompson) will be a little bit more aggressive looking to score without Steph and Harrison Barnes and Shaun Livingston and the rest of the guys will be a lot more aggressive too."

"We’re ready for them. Obviously you get so locked in to one team that you have to take a deep breath, step back and start watching the film. They’re the champs, so you’ve got to beat them. They aren’t going to have off nights, they’re going to be locked in and we’re ready for the challenge."

"It’s a big challenge, but we’re up for it. We feel like we can compete with anybody in this league. We’re NBA players just like them. We know it’s going to be a big challenge, but I think it’s going to be exciting for us."

"Obviously they’re a great team, got a lot of pieces. Steph (Curry) is out but it’s still a great team. Without Steph they probably still a boarder line 50-win team. It’s not like they can’t play or whatever, so it’s going to be a tough series for us, so we’re going to take it one game at a time... It’s going to be a tough series, they’re a great team, they’re defending champions, so you know they definitely have a lot to play for. It’s going to be a tough series for us."

"It’s a team we’re familiar with, we played them five times this year including preseason, so we’re familiar with them. There’s no surprises as to what they do well, what they want to do. I don’t know how long Steph will be out — I haven’t actually got to watch them much in the playoffs without him — but it’s a little different with him out there. They still play the same style but having a player like that out… I guess would change things a bit."

PORTLAND: Meyers Leonard is OUT for the series after undergoing surgery on his left shoulder on April 8, 2016.

GOLDEN STATE: Stephen Curry (MCL sprain, right knee) and Kevon Looney (left hip surgery) are OUT for Game One.

Points per game: Trail Blazers 105.1 (6th), Warriors 114.9 (1st)

Points against per game: Trail Blazers 104.3 (20th), Warriors 104.4 (19th)

Point differential: Trail Blazers +0.8 (13th), Warriors +10.8 (1st)

Field goal percentage: Trail Blazers 45 percent (16th), Warriors 49 percent (1st)

Opponent field goal percentage: Trail Blazers 45 percent (16th), Warriors 43 percent (3rd)

Three-point field goal percentage: Trail Blazers 37 percent (4th), Warriors 42 percent (1st)

True shooting percentage: Trail Blazers 55 percent (10th), Warriors 59 percent (1st)

Rebounds per game: Trail Blazers 45.5 (5th), Warriors 46.2 (4th)

Offensive rebounds per game: Trail Blazers 11.6 (3rd), Warriors 10.0 (20th)

Rebound differential: Trail Blazers +1.8 (10th), Warriors +2.3 (8th)

Rebound percentage: Trail Blazers 51 percent (10th), Warriors 51 percent (8th)

Assists per game: Portland 21.3 (21st), Warriors 28.9 (1st)

Turnovers per game: Trail Blazers 14.1 (17th), Warriors 14.9 (25th)

Pace: Trail Blazers 98.31 (12th), Warriors 101.6 (2nd)

Offensive rating: Trail Blazers 106.1 (7th), Warriors 112.5 (1st)

Defensive rating: Trail Blazers 105.6 (20th), Warriors 100.9 (5th)

Net rating: Trail Blazers +0.6 (14th), Warriors +11.6 (2nd)

• October 9, 2015: Trail Blazers 118, Warriors 101 (preseason)

While it’s foolhardy to draw too many conclusions from two games, it’s hard not to get a little excited about how the Trail Blazers have fared during the preseason, particularly on the offensive end, after their performance Thursday night against the defending NBA champs.

Thanks to the Allen Crabbe’s shot, Damian Lillard’s ability to get to the free throw line, a yeoman debut performance from Al-Farouq Aminu and quality contributions up and down the roster, the Portland Trail Blazers got their first win of the preseason Thursday night against the Golden State Warriors with an impressive 118-101 victory in front of 19,303 at the Moda Center.

“It was a positive night,” said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. “I was pleased with the way we played. Obviously scoring 77 in the first half, I didn’t see that coming but I really liked the tempo of the game. I liked how we were getting our shots, we were moving the ball. Both halves were completely different. It was up and down first half and much more of a defensive game in the second half. I thought we had a lot of good performances. Obviously (Crabbe) had a night and that was good to see the rhythm. I thought for the most part offensively we helped each other get shots and that helps the ball go in a little bit.”

• January 8: Warriors 128, Trail Blazers 109

The Portland Trail Blazers had their entire squad available for Friday night’s game against the defending NBA Champion Golden State at the Moda Center. There were no injuries, no illnesses, no suspensions and no clerical errors to speak of, making Friday’s contest one of the first this season in which Terry Stotts had the entirety of the roster at his disposal.

It didn’t seem to make much of a difference.

The Warriors, as they’ve done more often than not to their competition this season, dominated the Trail Blazers whenever they seemed to put their minds to it and eventually came away with a wire-to-wire 128-108 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 20,035, many of whom came to support the road team.

“Well, it was pretty obvious Golden State’s a pretty good basketball team,” said Stotts. “They showed why they have the record they have. They shot the ball really well, they passed — 36 assists. I think one of the things they do best is their passing and their shooting sets up a lot of their passing, obviously. They’re a good team.”

• February 19: Trail Blazers 137, Warriors 105

The Portland Trail Blazers entered the All-Star break playing their best basketball of the season, so there might have been some concern that a week off might have threatened their momentum.

But as Damian Lillard often says these days, don’t let that worry you.

Despite playing the Golden State Warriors, a juggernaut of a team that had lost just four games this season going into Friday night’s game, the Trail Blazers picked up right where they left off, blowing out the defending champs 137-105 in front of a sellout crowd at the Moda Center.

“It’s an understatement: we played very well,” said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. “I like the way we kept our composure. Offensively, we were terrific all night moving the ball. Dame had it going early, had it going late. After giving up some easy baskets in the fist quarter, I thought our defense was pretty solid the rest of the night. It was a great way to start after the break.”

• March 11, 2016: Warriors 128, Trail Blazers 112

The Portland Trail Blazers set out to do two things that no other NBA team had done this season: defeat the Golden State Warriors twice and hand the defending NBA champions their first loss on their home court since 2015.

The Warriors built a 15-point lead in the first quarter, which they extended to 23 in the second quarter on the way to scoring 81 points in the first half to eventually beat the Trail Blazers 128-112 in front of a sellout crowd of 19,596 at Oracle Arena Friday night in Oakland.

“They’re a championship team and they played like it,” said Damian Lillard. “I thought we came out and we had a pretty decent start. They’re great shooters, they see the ball go in and there’s not a whole lot you can do after that… They played a much better game than we did.”

• April 9, Warriors 136, Trail Blazers 111

On Friday, the Boston Celtics, a day after losing to the Trail Blazers at the Moda Center, became the first team this season to beat the Golden State Warriors on their home court this season, proving that the reigning NBA champions were not actually invincible at Oracle Arena.

But while that might be good news for the rest of the league, it didn’t do the Trail Blazers any favors Sunday afternoon in Oakland. Behind yet another ridiculous shooting night from reigning MVP Stephen Curry, a Warriors team determined to avoid suffering consecutive home losses for the first time since January 2014 bested the Trail Blazers 136-111 in front of a sellout crowd of 19,596.

“We played much better than we did last time (in Oakland),” said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. “They jumped on us early and we were never really in the game the last time. At least this game we were competitive for two, almost three quarters. It’s hard to look at the score and feel that, but we certainly played better than last time.”

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Trail Blazers Versus Warriors: A Second Round Playoff Overview

Near the end of Tuesday night's victory versus the Nets, Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard was treated for the first time to chants of "M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P" by fans at the Moda Center. While Lillard's stat line of 34 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field, six assists, five rebounds and a steals was worthy of praise on its own, the "M-V-P!" calls on this night seemed to be more of an appreciation of an impressive series of performances that saw the 6-3 guard out of Weber State score at least 30 points in five consecutive games, all Trail Blazers' victories.

“It felt like a ‘You’re Ours’ type of chant,’’ Lillard said after Wednesday's practice. “It wasn’t even like a ‘You’re going to win MVP’ … It was more like, ‘If nobody else appreciates you, we appreciate you’ type of thing."

But lately, that appreciation has not been unique to Trail Blazers fans. Now that the Trail Blazers are still in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race, people outside of Rip City are starting to come around on Lillard's MVP credentials. That includes NBA.com's Sekou Smith, who puts Lillard at No. 6 in this week's "Race To The MVP" rankings...

This is the first time this season that Lillard has made the Top 10 in MVP rankings. He's behind Clippers point guard Chris Paul at No. 5 and ahead of Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard at No. 7.

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Lillard Added To NBA's 'Race To The MVP' Ranking For The First Time This Season

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