Report: Trail Blazers' Jusuf Nurkic Hires Klutch Sports' Rich Paul as New Agent

Kyle Newport

Oct 15, 2019

Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic is switching representatives and will sign with Rich Paul and Klutch Sports, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

Nurkic signed a four-year, $48 million deal as a free agent in July 2018 to remain in Portland.

Taken 16th overall in 2014, Nurkic spent the first two-plus years of his career with the Denver Nuggets. He was traded to the Trail Blazers in February 2017.

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Nurkic has taken on a bigger role in Portland and success has followed. He is coming off a season in which he established career highs in scoring (15.6 ppg), field-goal percentage (50.8), rebounds (10.4 rpg), assists (3.2 apg) and steals (1.0 spg). He also added 1.4 blocks per game, which tied a personal best.

All but one of Nurkic's 171 appearances over the past two-plus seasons have been via starts. However, it is unclear when he will be able to take the court in 2019-20 after he suffered compound fractures to his left tibia and fibula on March 25.

Nurkic recently declined to put a timeline on his return, but he noted that he intends to return strong, per Joe Freeman of the Oregonian:

"It was hard. But it was definitely not a struggle. I don’t feel that way. Struggle is out there on the street, surviving. I look at myself and I have pretty much everything in my life. Whatever I ask for, God give it to me. My injury is just one setback in my job. Injury is part of the sport, so it’s part of the job. I was glad...as bad as it (looked), to kind of get away with the bone broken. It’s going to heal back and I’ll be good.

"A lot of stuff you can’t control in your life. This is just one part. I move on and I’m not looking back. All I care about is how I can get better."

According to Spotrac, Nurkic will make $12 million this upcoming season with $1.25 million available in incentives. Bobby Marks of ESPN reported last season that the veteran big man earned a $1.25 million bonus for making 70 appearances and the Trail Blazers winning 50 games.