Brooklyn Nets rumors: Nik Stauskas heading to Portland Trail Blazers

According to the latest Brooklyn Nets rumors, guard Nik Stauskas has reportedly agreed to a one-year deal with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Early Sunday morning, the Brooklyn Nets rumors were circulating with a report that former lottery pick Nik Stauskas had agreed to a one-year deal to head back west to the Portland Trail Blazers.

According to Chris Haynes of ESPN, Stauskas agreed to the deal shortly after the beginning of the new league year Sunday morning.

The move comes after the Nets did not extend a qualifying offer to Stauskas, making the four-year veteran an unrestricted free agent.

Free agent guard Nik Stauskas has agreed to a deal with Portland, league sources tell ESPN.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 1, 2018

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Stauskas’ agent had told Michael Scotto of The Athletic that not getting a QO didn’t close the door on the Nets for his client, nor did Brooklyn bringing back Joe Harris. That was the Nets’ first reported agreement Sunday morning.

According to Haynes, Stauskas’ deal with Portland is for the minimum, which according to Jeff Siegel at Early Bird Rights will be roughly $1.75 million based on the new $101.9 million salary cap for 2018-19.

Stauskas was an All-American and the Big Ten Player of the Year as a sophomore at Michigan in 2013-14, shooting a sizzling 44.2 percent from 3-point range that season while averaging 17.5 points per game, and was selected eighth overall in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings.

He underwhelmed as a rookie, shooting just .365/.322/.859 in 73 games and averaging 4.4 points in 15.4 minutes per game.

In July 2015, the Kings stunningly gave up on Stauskas, sending him to the Philadelphia 76ers as part of a salary dump along with Carl Landry, Jason Thompson and first-round picks in 2017 and 2019 in exchange for the rights to draft-and-stash picks Artuas Gudaitis and Luka Mitrovic and a 2017 first-rounder.

Stauskas found more opportunity in Philadelphia, but still struggled to find consistency with his shot. In 2015-16, he started 35 of the 73 games he appeared in, averaging 8.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 24.8 minutes per game on a less-than-sterling .385/.326/.771 slash line.

The next season was more of the same: a .396/.368/.813 slash and averages of 9.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 27.4 minutes per game.

The arrival of free agent J.J. Redick last season pushed Stauskas out of the 76ers’ rotation and after playing in just six of Philadelphia’s first 23 games, he was traded to Brooklyn with former No. 3 overall pick Jahlil Okafor and a 2019 second-round pick originally belonging to the New York Knicks in exchange for veteran big Trevor Booker.

Stauskas did not dress for eight of the 17 games he sat out for the 76ers and was a DNP-Coach’s Decision the other nine, logging just 45 minutes on the floor before the deal and mustering just four shots (1-for-4 while missing his only 3-point attempt).

He was inactive his first two games in Brooklyn and did not play the next two before making a splashy debut in a blowout loss at Toronto, banging home 6-of-9 shots, including 5-for-7 from deep, while scoring 22 points.

But the consistency never materialized and Stauskas notched 18 DNP-CDs, including eight in a row from March 13-31, and played in 35 games as a Net.

He averaged 5.1 points in 13.7 minutes per game while shooting .393/.404/.704.

At 6-foot-6 and 205 pounds, he looks the part of the prototype modern NBA 2 guard. His shot looks terrific on video. But at the end of the day, he’s a career .386/.349/.801 shooter heading to his fourth team in five years — and for the league minimum.

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He’ll be 25 in October, so he’s still got time to figure it out. But he’ll need opportunities to do so and backing up C.J. McCollum in Portland may not afford many.

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