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NBA Rumors: Allen Crabbe Signs Four-Year, $75 Million Offer Sheet With Brooklyn Nets

By Jason Fletcher
Published on: 05:21 PST, Jul 8, 2016

Restricted free agent Allen Crabbe has reportedly signed a four-year offer sheet with the Brooklyn Nets worth $75 million, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. Crabbe is just 24 years old and has only started 17 games through three seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, but last season, Allen averaged 10.3 points over a career-high 26 minutes per game as the sixth-man for the Blazers.

Entering free agency, it sounded like the Blazers would be prepared to match any offer for Crabbe, but the team likely didn’t expect the former California Golden Bear to receive a contract offer worth over $18 million per season. The Blazers have already given Evan Turner a four-year $70 million deal, and just yesterday, they signed Festus Ezeli to a two-year contract worth $16 million.

In addition, C.J. McCollum, who averaged 20.8 points per game and won the 2015-16 NBA Most Improved Player Award, will be a free agent following the 2017-18 season. While the salary cap is expected to rise even further over the next two seasons, it would likely be tough for the Blazers to afford Damian Lillard, McCollum, Turner, and Crabbe; three of whom who can play the shooting guard position.

Unfortunately, the loss of Crabbe could be tough for the Blazers on the court. Allen was a much-needed scorer for the team’s second-unit, and there’s really no one else like him on the Blazers’ roster. It’s entirely possible that head coach Terry Stotts could choose to move Turner into Crabbe’s role as the sixth-man off the bench and roll with a starting lineup of Lillard, McCollum, Al-Farouq Aminu, Moe Harkless, and Mason Plumlee, but it would be ideal to have Turner starting to pack more of a punch.

Nets general manager Sean Marks is taking a calculated risk by offering Crabbe such a large contract. He’s banking on Allen being his starter at shooting guard and watching his production skyrocket as his role increases. Crabbe has shown the ability to be a great scorer for the Blazers, but he’s never been more than the fourth option and will instantly become the second option for the Nets behind Brook Lopez.

That being said, the gamble is worth it for the Nets who are one of the worst teams in the NBA. It was going to be impossible for Marks to draw the top free agents to Brooklyn, so his best option was to overpay for potential on players like Crabbe and Miami Heat guard Tyler Johnson. Those two guys have never really been given hugely important roles and have the potential to breakout when they are able to play more minutes.

If Allen Crabbe ends up with the Nets, Brooklyn could send out a starting lineup of Jeremy Lin, Crabbe, Bojan Bogdanovi?, Thomas Robinson, and Brook Lopez every single night. Then, new head coach Kenny Atkinson would still be able to bring guys like Johnson, Trevor Booker, and Shane Larkin off the bench. It remains to be seen if that would be enough to make the playoffs, but that would be a vast improvement over last season’s roster.

In short, Marks and the Nets did a masterful job during free agency with limited options, and the cream of the crop would be Crabbe. He would bring a scoring element to the backcourt that the Nets lacked last season. If the Blazers allow Allen Crabbe to walk, Brooklyn could be one of the most improved teams in the NBA in 2016-17.

[Photo by Elsa/Getty Images]

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