Trail Blazers pending unrestricted free agent expresses desire to remain in Portland

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Trail Blazers pending unrestricted free agent expresses desire to remain in Portland originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

For the first time in his career, Portland Trail Blazers reserve forward Matisse Thybulle is headed for unrestricted free agency over the offseason.

While Thybulle doesn't know what the future holds for him, he made it clear that he would like to continue his career in Portland if possible.

Matisse Thybulle would like to remain with Trail Blazers​

Thybulle is very happy with the group of players that Blazers general manager Joe Cronin has put together in Portland, and that's a big factor in his desire to re-sign with the Blazers.

“I would love to be a part of this team again. A great group with a lot of potential. Good people. I talk about this with, like, my friends and even the older players on the team who’ve been traded; I don’t know if everyone on this team fully realizes how good of a group we really have, because you can get a couple bad eggs that spoil it for everyone," Thybulle said.

"But we don’t have anything close to that. And just the level of care and just the quality of character we have in our locker room is something that’s really nice to be a part of. So, me personally, I would love to be here and continue growing with this team.”

Now that Thybulle has made his feelings on the situation clear, he has to wait and see if those feelings are mutual and if the Blazers are interested in bringing him back.

Since this is Thybulle's first time experiencing unrestricted free agency, he doesn't really know what to expect over the offseason.

“I don’t have expectations,” Thybulle said. “I don’t really know how the whole proper free agency thing goes. I was a restricted free agent before, but this is very different. Expectations? Don’t have any, don’t know what to expect.”

Injury issues have hampered Thybulle over the past couple of years, as he appeared in just 45 total games for Portland over the last two seasons.

However, he was a two-time NBA All-Defensive Second Team selection earlier in his career, so he's shown that he can be a very impactful player, especially on the defensive end of the floor. It will be interesting to see what his market looks like over the offseason.

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