Blazers Trade Guard Jerryd Bayless To New Orleans

Added on Oct 24, 2010 by Jason Kearney in

NBA

The Portland Trailblazers cleared up some roster space on Saturday by trading talented guard Jerryd Bayless to the New Orleans Hornets for a conditional future first round pick. The pick that Portland will receive is protected 1-to-7 in the 2011 draft and 1-to-8 in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Translated–this means that the Blazers will get the pick in the June draft as long as it is #8 or lower.

The move is something of a surprise since despite Bayless not getting much playing time in Portland’s talented and deep backcourt he was highly regarded by Blazers’ management and well liked by Rip City fans. The expectation had been that disgruntled Spanish guard Rudy Fernandez–who has complained about playing in Portland all off season and wants to return to Europe full time–would somehow be moved. The Bayless trade seems to suggest that Fernandez may be changing his tune.

While Bayless being moved was somewhat unexpected, the need for the team to clear roster space was a foregone conclusion. Centers Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla are still rehabbing serious injuries, so the team signed Fabricio Oberto to a one year deal. Even with Bayless off the roster, Portland still has 16 players and needs to cut one more before opening night rosters are finalized on Monday night. The expectation is that injured power forward Jeff Pendergraph will be traded or released, though there is some talk that he could stay and Australian Patty Mills could go. It’s a tough decision either way–both players are popular with Portland fans–but Pendergraph’s season ending knee injury suffered earlier this month could be the difference maker.

Portland opens their 2010-2011 regular season at the Rose Garden Arena against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night.