ESPN.com is reporting that the Portland Trail Blazers have offered point guard Andre Miller a three-year, $21 million deal.
The Blazers made this move after they failed to obtain the services of New York Knicks’ forward and restricted free agent, David Lee.
Though Miller’s agent confirmed the deal, he refused to offer the details, which ESPN reports that the $21 million deal comes with $14 million guaranteed and his third-year option includes $7 million left.
Though Portland was one of only two teams with the money to afford a mid-level exception for Miller, the former Denver Nuggets guard was cringing from signing the Philadelphia 76ers one-year offer.
With Miller, the Blazers have a veteran pass-first point guard that can help command the floor with their young superstars Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Oden, Martell Webster, Rudi Fernandez and Jerryd Bayless.
The Blazers apparently did want Lee though, offering him an opt-out clause that would make him an unrestricted free agent in 2011, but the deal offered by the Nate McMillan led Blazers was not enough.
Lee is currently attending Team USA’s minicamp in Las Vegas where the Blazer pitch was offered to him, but he expressed that he did not think a deal was close.
“At this point it's going to come down to sign-and-trades vs. trying to get something worked out with New York,” Lee told ESPN.com.
“Sign and trades, with base-year and compensation and all that stuff, can get complicated. But I think there's enough teams out there that we've had contact with that are excited about trying to get something done that it's a possibility we can do it.”
Regardless of what the Blazers were willing to offer Lee, the New York would have had the right to match that fee and who knows New York might have declined.
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