The Trail Blazers waived Zeller (knee) on Tuesday.
With Portland bringing in four new players and sending out three in the deal the team completed with the Pelicans earlier Thursday, Zeller was cut loose to get roster down to the standard 15 players. The veteran center recently underwent surgery to address a patellar fracture, and he was expected to be sidelined until at least April. Trendon Watford is expected to continue serving as the primary backup to starting center Jusuf Nurkic.