Trail Blazers match offer sheet and retain former Sixer Matisse Thybulle
The Blazers are matching the three-year, $35 million offer sheet that the restricted free agent received from the Dallas Mavericks.
The Portland Trail Blazers have decided that Matisse Thybulle and his lockdown defense are worth keeping around.
The Blazers matched the three-year, $35 million offer sheet that Thybulle received from the Dallas Mavericks, a source confirmed Thursday. Thybulle, 26, was a restricted free agent. The deal includes a player option for the third year.
The Sixers dealt Thybulle to Portland at the February trade deadline, part of a four-team deal in which Philly acquired forward Jalen McDaniels and two second-round picks. McDaniels has agreed to join the Toronto Raptors as a free agent.
The Boston Celtics selected Thybulle out of Washington with the 20th overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft before trading him to the Sixers. He played the first 3½ seasons of his NBA career here, averaging 4.4 points and earning NBA All-Defensive second-team honors in 2021 and 2022.
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With the Blazers, Thybulle averaged career highs in minutes (27.7 per game), points (7.4), rebounds (3.5), and three-point percentage (.388) over the final two months of the season.
The Mavericks nearly acquired Thybulle from the Sixers at the trade deadline in a deal that was “95% completed,” according to The Inquirer’s Keith Pompey. But the trade fell apart over the Sixers’ demand for a first-round pick for Thybulle.