Evan Turner Trade Rumors: Latest News, Speculation Surrounding Blazers Guard

The Portland Trail Blazers are off to a poor 15-21 start this season, seemingly leaving the fate of high-priced veterans like Evan Turner up in the air. 

Continue for updates. 

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Blazers Not Trading Turner

Wednesday, Jan. 4

Per ESPN's Chris Haynes, the Trail Blazers aren't seeking a trade involving Turner. 

Turner signed a four-year, $70 million contract with the Trail Blazers in July, a deal that was heavily criticized at the time. 

Here's what Charles Curtis of USA Today said after Turner agreed to his deal with Portland:

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The former second overall pick in 2010 has his moments — he can defend, handle the ball and dish. But the Blazers are now paying an average of $17.5 million to a reserve who struggles with his shot. Even if he’s a decent sixth man, that seems like a huge chunk of change for someone who’s shot 43.2 percent from the floor and 30.5 percent from behind the arc for his career.

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The bad elements of Turner's game haven't changed since signing a massive contract. He's shooting 42.7 percent overall (29.8 percent from three-point range) and is averaging 9.3 points per game. 

The Trail Blazers had a bad offseason due in part to the contract given to Turner. It came from a good place, though, because the franchise wanted to capitalize on winning 44 games and a playoff series last year after losing LaMarcus Aldridge as a free agent. 

Haynes also noted the team's offseason plan "was to keep players under contract and spend every penny of its cap space, knowing the team wouldn't have cap room moving forward."

Unfortunately, the worst thing a team can do is decide it has to spend money even when the talent doesn't justify the contract. 

Turner is far from the NBA's worst player, but his salary relative to his production makes him look bad. The Trail Blazers are stuck with it for the time being, though if there is a silver lining, they were 15-24 on Jan. 8 last year before making a run to the playoffs.