Portland has engaged in serious discussions about making an offer to restricted free agent David Lee.

The Trail Blazers lost out on Hedo Turkoglu on Friday, freeing up a significant amount of cap space.

Agent Mark Bartelstein said on Friday that a dozen teams are trying to land the power forward through sign-and-trade deals with the Knicks.

The Blazers, like other interested clubs, are worried that they'll be in limbo until July 15 -- the date by which the Knicks would have to decide whether they'd match the offer -- and that they'll lose out on other free agents.

"All the elite teams are working hard to get him, and I know something is going to happen," Bartelstein said Friday.

Bartelstein says that he has no clear idea of whether or not the Knicks would match any offer Lee receives.

"Our first goal has always been to get a deal done with the Knicks -- a fair-market deal based upon who David is in this league among his peers, to get a deal that's fair," Bartelstein said.

"Because there's no ifs, ands or buts, David wants to be a Knick. But if we're not going to be able to do that, the reality I have is that the route I have to go is sign-and-trade, and that's even harder because he becomes a base-year compensation player, and it makes that trade an incredibly complicated event to get to happen, where you have to put in all kinds of players and teams."