The Portland Trail Blazers are adding to their frontcourts by signing Oklahoma City Thunder center Branden Carlson to a one-year deal worth $2.5 million.
The move comes hours after the report of the team re-signing Robert Williams III to a three-year, $44 million contract. ESPN insider Shams Charania was the first to report the news.
Over the past two seasons, Carlson has played in 74 games for the Thunder, averaging 4.9 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. He played his collegiate basketball at the University of Utah, spending five seasons with the program. He went undrafted in the 2024 NBA draft, but the Thunder took a flyer on him. This past season, Carlson was on a two-way contract with the Thunder.
It appears that Carlson's deal will put him on the active roster, as opposed to being a two-way contract. This puts him in a center rotation alongside Williams, Donovan Clingan , and Yang Hansen , who was the team's first-round pick in the 2025 NBA draft.
It's a crowded group of big men, which means Carlson will have to fight for any minutes on the team. There's a good chance he is probably only used as a player in garbage time scenarios.
With Carlson signing on, the Blazers have 13 players on the roster. Portland still has the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception, that it can use, which is available to sign a player like Matisse Thybulle , who is a free agent this offseason.
The full non-taxpayer mid-level exception is worth around $15 million. The Blazers could also use those funds to sign multiple players to get the back end of the roster sorted out.
The Blazers could also view Carlson as a depth piece that will take the place of Donovan Clingan in a potential trade with the Boston Celtics for Jaylen Brown.
Portland has been a top landing spot for Brown in the trade sweepstakes, but the compensation of the deal has been iffy. The Celtics should be interested in Clingan as they have wanted to improve their frontcourt. Clingan, a New England native, might be the player the Celtics truly covet. Adding Carlson will give the Blazers an extra center to rely on in case they were to trade Clingan.
The Blazers are likely hesitant to trade Clingan to begin with, but this gives them some insurance to work with.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/trailblazers/onsi as Signing Branden Carlson Could Lead Blazers to Blockbuster Trade .
