Blazers Sign Forward To Very Team-Friendly Rookie Extension

The Portland Trail Blazers are building something, and they want improving young forward Nassir Little to have a big part in it. The 25th overall pick in the 2019 Draft got his rookie extension on Monday.  

Nassir Little has agreed to a 4-year, $28 million contract extension with the Portland Trail Blazers, per @wojespn pic.twitter.com/wH3piovzKb

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) October 17, 2022

It's an extremely team-friendly 4-year, $28M deal for the 22-year-old, at just $7M per season. 

Holy steal Batman!

This is basically unheard of among rookie extensions. Guys almost never re-sign for less than the MLE. An AAV of $7 million is roughly 5.6% of the CURRENT cap. By the end of this deal, it's going to be 3-4% of the cap. And Little is, ya know, good! https://t.co/1cqy6oo4rU

— Sam Quinn (@SamQuinnCBS) October 17, 2022

As noted by Sam Quinn of CBS Sports, it's a rarity when a rookie extension has a key player sign for less than the mid-level exception, which is what Little did. 

The 6'5" forward vastly improved across the board in his third season last year, more than doubling his points, rebounds and assists averages from the previous season. He finished at 9.8 points, 5.6 points and 1.3 assists. 

But things really exploded for him in his final month of games, scoring 13.1 points and shooting 40.3% from long distance in 12 January games. He underwent season-ending surgery on a labral tear in his left shoulder at the end of January.

The extension kicks in next season, and keeps him in Portland through the 2026-27 season at a very cost-friendly deal.

Photo: Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports