Al-Farouq Aminu agrees to contract with Blazers

Preparing for the possible loss of not only power forward LaMarcus Aldridge but also reserve center Robin Lopez, the Portland Trail Blazers agreed to a four-year, $30 million contract with free-agent forward Al-Farouq Aminu, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports.

Aminu, entering his sixth season, averaged 5.6 points and 4.6 rebounds for Dallas season but had a strong playoff series at 11.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. While Aminu has never averaged more than 7.3 points and 7.7 rebounds in a season, his per-36 minutes statistics look much better, especially with Dallas in 2014-15.

Still, the $7.5 million a year payday is a significant eye-popping raise from the $981,084 he made last season. It shows that teams are willing to spend a little more to build, knowing that Aminu's deal won't look as large when the salary cap jumps to almost $90 million in 2016-17.

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