Brandon Roy targeted by Warriors, Wolves, Bulls
After months of training and healing (not to mention undergoing a major knee procedure), former Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy has made it known that he does intend to make a comeback to the NBA, even as soon as next season.
Roy was released by the Trail Blazers back in December after taking a medical retirement and the team used the new Amnesty Clause to pay out the remainder of his $63 million contract. Due to the new league rules, Roy cannot play for Portland until the 2014-15 season and he has not seen any court action since.
He recently underwent a platelet rich plasma therapy procedure that stars like Kobe Bryant and Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees have gone through and have proven so far to be effective. The blood spinning procedure relives pain in the knees and joints as Bryant has continued to play basketball although his numbers are low than they usually were. Same goes for Roy, sources who have seen him work out a short time ago say while his agility and quickness aren’t what they used to be, his shooting stroke is still very reliable.
Because of this, plenty of teams are very interested in the two-time All-Star’s services but will be taking a high risk based on how well his knees keep up. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, teams such as Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors have marked Roy on their radar. The Warriors and Wolves have already publicly made contract offers with Minnesota offering a two-year deal and would love to acquire him as they did in fact draft Roy at the 2006 NBA Draft, trading him to Portland in favor of Randy Foye.
The Indiana Pacers could very well be another key player as they just hired Kevin Pritchard to be their new general manager. Pritchard was GM for Portland and made the move to get Roy on draft night, and Roy would feel comfortable working with him again.
Sources around the league have also said that the Bulls have spoken to Roy and his agent but details of a deal being made are still in the dark. Whatever a deal Roy decides to agree to, there are certainly plenty of willing teams to give The Natural another shot.
photo courtesy of si.com
Nicholas Filipas