When Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton negotiated a buyout in order to hit the NBA Free Agency market one season early, one of the big questions was how much of a discount he would take on his $35.5 million contract.
NBA writer Jake Fischer is citing sources saying that the amount was $10 million, a hefty 28% bargain for the Trail Blazers.
Sources: Deandre Ayton’s contract buyout with Portland forfeited $10 million of his $35.6 million 2025-26 salary.
That amount will come off of Portland’s salary cap for the coming season. Buyouts are always expensive for the team doing the buying, but a $10 million, 30% savings is fairly significant. This is good news for the Blazers.
The next question to be answered is whether the Blazers will absorb the remaining $25.5 million of the salary they owe Ayton into the 2025-26 salary cap and be done with the matter or whether they’ll stretch the amount over three years to incur a lesser cap footprint in the short term.
When Ayton clears waivers on Wednesday, he will become an unrestricted free agent, able to sign with any team besides Portland.