Source Source Matthews said he would be willing to take less to stay with Utah, yet his agent was asking for the full MLE from the beginning. Then in his interview, he does sound a little distraught Utah didn't actually match. I think he wanted to stay in Utah and have his starting spot, and thought Utah would match if he did got out and get the whole MLE. That could be why he signed with a team that had a starting SG and possibly SF in Roy & Batum. But now that Utah didn't match, he vented a bit but he has his money at least. Smells like the Shandon Anderson scenario all over again.
Interesting. Sounds like Matthews didn't really want to come to Portland (where he will almost definitely come off the bench), but just signed the first max-mid-level offer he got, assuming that Utah would match. I hope he ends up happy here. Maybe if we're lucky he'll take Utah's not matching as an insult that will fuel his desire to improve further, and he'll end up a bargain.
