“He’s gone,” a source close to Aldridge said. “There’s a 99.9 percent chance that he’s out of Portland.”

The sources listed several reasons Aldridge is expected to leave the Blazers, for whom he has played since entering the league in 2006. They said he doesn’t believe the Blazers can attract top free agents to improve the team, that he feels somewhat underappreciated by the organization and that he simply is looking for a new environment to live in.

Sources told Stein that the Blazers have been pressing for more concrete signals from Aldridge’s camp about his plans before the July 1 start of free agency and are ‎increasingly fearful they have little chance of retaining the All-Star big man once he hits the open market.

Want to know more? Got the drop at Bleacher Report . . .