Nassir Little has agreed on a four-year, $28 million extension with the Portland Trailblazers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Little is a UNC product, and he was a first-round pick in 2019. The deadline to extend Little was 6 p.m. Monday.
ESPN story on Portland Trail Blazers F Nassir Little agreeing on a $28M extension https://t.co/hr50OUce6I
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 17, 2022
Little has slowly seen his minutes grow over his first three seasons in the League.
The Blazers are a squad with a heavy veteran presence, and following injuries to key rotational players, Little finally got his chance to showcase his skills in the 2021-2022 season. His minutes jumped from 13.3 minutes per game to 25.9 minutes per game. Little’s counting stats grew as well. He went from 4.6 to 9.8 points per game, 2.7 to 5.6 rebounds per game, last season he passed out a career-best 1.3 assists per game.
His fully guaranteed extension is coming after Little suffered a season-ending shoulder injury he sustained during a strong stretch of play in January 2022. Little averaged 13.1 points and 7.5 rebounds on 45.4 percent shooting, including 40 percent on three-pointers, for the month. Portland was 7-5 in the stretch.
Damian Lillard’s longtime backcourt running mate, CJ McCollum, is no longer in Portland and the roster of players Portland has built around their All-NBA guard seems to be getting younger. A new era of Trail Blazers’ hoops is beginning this season and Nassir Little is expected to be a part of it through 2027.
Photos via Getty Images.
