Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan is flying to Orlando to have a Wednesday night dinner with the Blazers' top free-agent target, Hedo Turkoglu.
Turkoglu's agent, Lon Babby, said Wednesday that Turkoglu will then travel to Oregon for a Thursday tour of the Blazers' facilities and meetings with Portland general manager Kevin Pritchard and assistant GM Tom Penn.
With the Blazers projected to have $8 million to $9 million in salary-cap space this summer -- with firm figures not known until the league announces next season's salary cap on July 8 -- and the Orlando Magic lacking the financial flexibility to re-sign Turkoglu after trading for Vince Carter last week, Turkoglu is widely expected to land with the Blazers as the first marquee free-agent signing of Pritchard's reign.
Teams and free agents were permitted to strike verbal agreements on new deals as of 12:01 a.m. ET Wednesday but new contracts cannot be signed until the cap figure is announced and the NBA's moratorium on signings is lifted next week
Stay classy,
Cwhite
