Over the weekend the Portland Trail Blazers shored up their future, signing guard Shaedon Sharpe to a four-year, $90 million extension and forward Toumani Camara to four years, $82 million. Reactions were
generally positive in Portland, with Sharpe cast in the role of future scoring star and Camara described as part of the current backbone of the team.
ESPN’s Kevin Pelton had a more muted response to the deals. Grading on a pass/fail system, he termed Sharpe’s a pass and Camara’s a fail.
Pelton was free with praise for both players. He explained Sharpe’s slightly-bigger number in terms of his interest on next summer’s free agent market:
Although I think Camara is unquestionably the better of the two players right now, Sharpe’s slightly more lucrative extension was the stronger contract because of the context around their potential free agencies.
Basically, there was higher risk of opposing teams offering money for a 20-point scorer than a 3-and-D forward. The league values the latter skillset but, as Pelton explains, doesn’t offer big contracts for it.
Pelton tipped his hat to the Blazers getting Sharpe at a potential bargain rate:
Even without an offer sheet, Sharpe might have been able to match or beat this deal next summer. In the midst of a restricted free agency standoff this year, Josh Giddey got a higher annual salary from the Chicago Bulls than Sharpe’s extension will pay.
At the same time, the analyst pointed out that only two players of Camara’s type have signed for more than $16 million a year over the past three offseasons: Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors and Herb Jones of the Indiana Pacers. The difference is, Jones was heading to unrestricted free agency and Green is…well…Green.
Pelton continues:
The hope for Portland certainly is that Camara can grow beyond that 3-and-D role this season. He averaged 13.8 PPG after the All-Star break, more than the similar Jaden McDaniels of the Minnesota Timberwolves — who did get handsomely paid via rookie extension in 2023 — has ever averaged. If that happens, the Blazers will be glad they locked in Camara. Still, given that Portland had the team option to fall back on, I think the Blazers took too much of the risk here.
The answers to Pelton’s worries should come fairly quickly, if they’re coming at all. Portland does have a track record of overpaying incumbent players over the past few seasons. The Blazers will hope that extensions for Camara and Sharpe are a case of, “Ha! Told you!” and not, “Oops, I did it again.”
