Portland Traded Allen Crabbe to Reduce Future Salary Commitments
Portland sent guard Allen Crabbe to Brooklyn for forward Andrew Nicholson on July 25, 2017. A year earlier, the Nets had offered Crabbe a large restricted-free-agent contract, which Portland matched to retain its perimeter shooter. By the next summer, the Blazers wanted to reduce the cost of their roster, which already featured high-paid guards Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. The league’s contemporaneous coverage described the resulting swap as a salary-management decision. Nicholson was a less expensive contract to process, not the coveted starting player who replaced Crabbe in Portland lineups. The team waived Nicholson on August 30, prior to the regular season, as its transaction register independently confirms. No draft pick or other player changed hands in the original deal.
Crabbe Played Seventy-Five Games as a Nets Starter and Reserve
Crabbe appeared in 75 Brooklyn games during 2017-18 with 68 starts, averaging 13.2 points and 4.3 rebounds. He made 201 three-pointers on 37.8 percent shooting and played nearly thirty minutes per night. Those numbers demonstrate meaningful Nets on-court production even though the salary attached to the contract was expensive. In 2018-19 he appeared in 43 games, with 20 starts and averages of 9.6 points. Injuries and diminished availability reduced his value during the second season, and Brooklyn moved him in a later transaction. The Nets C grade balances the actual 118 games of shooting offense against the contract cost and lack of a multiyear star outcome. His prior Portland shooting accuracy should not be counted as if earned for Brooklyn.
Nicholson Never Appeared in a Blazers Game After the Trade
Portland did not receive on-court points or rebounds from Nicholson: the team waived him before the 2017-18 season. Its benefit was financial room and reduced long-term salary exposure, creating greater freedom for other roster decisions. The inherited Blazers Win label, despite equal C grades for both teams, describes that financial outcome rather than pretending Portland acquired the better basketball performer. Brooklyn bought legitimate wing shooting and twenty-month roster utility; Portland bought an opportunity to reorganize contracts. The trade is therefore a useful distinction between winning on the floor and improving roster finances. Nicholson’s earlier games for Orlando, Washington or Brooklyn cannot be reattributed to the Blazers, and Crabbe’s subsequent performances for other franchises do not enlarge the Nets return.
Final Verdict
Blazers Win in the inherited verdict despite matching C grades. Portland moved Allen Crabbe’s salary and waived Andrew Nicholson without a Blazers game. Brooklyn received 75 Crabbe games at 13.2 points in 2017-18 and 43 games at 9.6 points in 2018-19, but committed to a sizable contract.