The Portland Trail Blazers are reportedly not in a rush to give starting center Mason Plumlee a contract extension before the new season starts.
Portland has until Oct. 31 to hand Plumlee a new deal or else other teams will have a chance to sign him next summer as he will become a restricted free agent at that time. The Blazers will of course have the right to match any offer the 26-year-old center may receive, but they can let all of that pass if they sign him to an extension before the said deadline.
The Blazers had already signed shooting guard CJ McCollum to a four-year, $106.6 million extension last July that will pay him an average of $26 million per year, boosting the team's payroll to more than $138 million in 2017-2018.
Plumlee is expected to also receive an extension for his contributions to the squad last season, but Blazers general manager Neil Olshey is reportedly planning to wait until next summer to re-sign him. ESPN reported that if things will change, then an extension may be given on or a few days before the deadline.
"I can't say whether or not we will get something done or not," said Mark Bartelstein, Plumlee's agent, as per CSNNW. "We are fine either way, we really are. If we get a deal done now that works for both sides, great. If not, we will revisit it in the summer."
"I've been pretty consistent with this: I don't have extension discussions - unless it's a no-brainer max discussion - until the week that the deadline hits," the agent added.
The report noted that "if the deadline passes without a deal, the Blazers will almost surely extend Plumlee a qualifying offer at the end of the season", which is similar to what happened with fellow Blazers Meyers Leonard, Maurice Harkless, and Allen Crabbe this summer.
Plumlee recently told media that he will not get distracted about his current contract situation even if it is "on his mind" and just play the best basketball for the Blazers.
"I've always had mentality that every year is a big year because you only get so many of them," Plumlee said. "The life of the NBA is not forever, but I don't wait until a contract year to prepare differently or do anything differently. I take the same approach every year."
Plumlee produced career-high averages on points (9.1), rebounds (7.7), assists (2.8), blocks (1.0), and minutes played (25.4) in 82 games for the Blazers last season.
