Report: Portland Trail Blazers Offer Aldridge Max Extension

Aldridge has publicly and privately expressed a strong desire to stay with the Blazers.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that team owner Paul Allen and general manager Neil Olshey traveled to Los Angeles last week to meet with LaMarcus Aldridge’s representation, Wasserman Media Group, to offer up a max contract extension for the three-time All-Star power forward. Photo Courtesy: Portland Trail Blazers

(PORTLAND, Ore. ) - Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that team owner Paul Allen and general manager Neil Olshey traveled to Los Angeles last week to meet with LaMarcus Aldridge’s representation, Wasserman Media Group, to offer up a max contract extension for the three-time All-Star power forward.

Allen and Olshey met with Wasserman Media Group agents Thad Foucher and Arn Tellem to lay out the max contract extension scenarios available to Aldridge and reaffirm the franchise’s desire to secure him for the long term, league sources said.

With only a remote chance that Aldridge will agree to the three-year, $55.5 million extension afforded him this summer under the collective bargaining agreement, the Blazers are determined to keep Aldridge on a five-year, $108 million extension that he can sign upon reaching free agency next summer.

Aldridge has publicly and privately expressed a strong desire to stay with the Blazers, and there’s believed to be significant momentum toward him ultimately recommitting to Portland. The fact that the owner and GM made the trip to present the offer face-to-face wasn’t lost on Aldridge’s camp, sources said.

As Wojnaroski points out, Aldridge can ensure a much larger and longer contract if he waits until free agency to sign a new contract, but it looks as though the team is taking the opportunity to let Aldridge know how important keeping him in Portland is to the franchise.

“The most important thing is everybody, including LaMarcus, knows he’s the No. 1 priority in the organization right now,” said Olshey during exit interviews. “When that business needs to be handled and the timing is absolutely right, it’s clearly a goal of ours to keep LaMarcus here long term.”

Source: Portland Trail Blazers