Trail Blazers not cool with Pat Connaughton playing pro baseball during offseason

In 2015, Pat Connaughton was drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft by the Nets , then quickly traded to Portland in the Rondae Hollis-Jefferson deal.

In 2014, Pat Connaughton was drafted in the fourth round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Baltimore Orioles (he would have gone higher had he not told teams he was returning to ND to play another year of hoops).

Connaughton signed a four-year deal with Portland where the first two years are fully guaranteed he’s an NBA player for the next couple years.

In a few years, if Connaughton has established himself in the NBA and is starting to negotiate a second contract with Portland or wherever, then he may have the leverage to say he wants to try playing some baseball in the summer.

But for now, he’s an NBA player, and Connaughton knows he needed to go the NBA route first because it’s a sport where dynamic athleticism is required, and age will factor into that equation.