Eric Bledsoe Waived by Trail Blazers; 'Several' Teams Reportedly Have Interest in FA

After trying and failing to land a trade partner, the Portland Trail Blazers waived guard Eric Bledsoe.

Only $3.9 million of his $19.4 million salary was fully guaranteed for the 2022-23 season.

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported several teams are expected to pursue Bledsoe once he clears waivers.

The veteran guard did not play a game with the Blazers after being traded to Portland at the February deadline. He averaged 9.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 54 games with the Los Angeles Clippers before the trade.

While Bledsoe has clearly lost some of his athleticism and effectiveness over the last two seasons, he's still only 32 years old and could thrive in a more limited role. He has played at least 25 minutes per game each of the last 10 seasons; look for that number to dwindle into the high teens in his next stop.

The Blazers acquired Bledsoe more as a trade chip than as a player, hoping to coax a team in need of salary relief into another deal as they retool their roster. They found no takers despite moving his contract guarantee date back to July 10.

Losing Bledsoe for nothing hurts Portland in the interim because the team is losing a potentially valuable salary slot. They could have held onto him past the guarantee date and then kept the salary slot available in case a team wanted to acquire an expiring contract, but it's likely the Blazers explored that market and found it equally unappealing.