Hedo Turkoglu Spurns Portland Trail Blazers, Signs with Toronto Raptors

Hedo Turkoglu spurned the Portland Trail Blazers and signed with the Toronto Raptors, according to reports Monday.

Turkoglu agreed to a five-year, $53 million deal with Toronto, leaving Portland still in pursuit for a top-notch free agent.

Turkoglu, the former Orlando Magic forward, originally made a verbal commitment to Portland late last week after entering free agency. Over the weekend, he recanted his decision, eventually signing with Toronto.

Toronto offered Turkoglu all of their remaining cap space after renouncing their rights to Shawn Marion, Anthony Parker and Carlos Delfino. Turkoglu’s contract will reportedly start at $10.1 million with an eight percent annual increase.

Toronto has until July 7 to renounce the rights to Marion, Parker and Delfino. Turkoglu, the first player in NBA history to be born in Turkey, will make about $3 million more over the life of the contract than he would have made in Portland. However, the biggest reason for selecting the Canadian metropolis is because it has a larger international population, including a lot of residents of Turkish descent.

The Blazers now must start over with about $9 million in salary cap space. Last season the team won 54 games last season and advanced to the playoffs for the first time since 2003.

Toronto will likely have a starting lineup of Turkoglu, Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon and rookie DeMar DeRozan, but will lack depth off of the bench with the expected losses of Marion, Parker and Delfino.

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