We don’t yet know how the Damian Lillard sweepstakes will end, but it’s possible that this situation gets dragged on for months as the Blazers seek the best possible return for their disgruntled franchise superstar.
While it’s no secret that Portland is not very high on anything that Miami has to offer, NBA personnel across the league still see Dame’s move to South Beach as an inevitability. For most, it’s not a question of if, but when.
“I’ve talked to a bunch of agents, have talked to several executives with other teams, and it’s what everyone is talking about,” said Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. “And there just seems to be an overall belief that eventually, at some point, Miami will find a way to get the pieces together to get Damian Lillard there.”
At present, the Heat would have to include Tyler Herro in any deal for Lillard, which likely means a third team would have to be involved to take on Herro’s contract and send assets back to Portland in return. The issue for the Blazers is that since Lillard has made his desires public, they have no leverage in trade negotiations.
The truth is, if GM Joe Cronin is really set on maximizing his return for Dame, he might be better off just waiting this out and hoping for a better package down the road.
2023 Draft Was The Final Straw For Lillard and The Blazers
There is no denying that things are over for Dame Time in Portland, but after so many great years together it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where it went wrong. at the very least, we know the draft had something to do with it and Lillard was not happy that his team decided to keep their young guys instead of chasing veterans.
“They were quietly rebuilding,” said ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on ‘The Old Man & The Three.’ “They tanked last year, gave him the extension… then this last season at the deadline they traded away Josh Hart… And then they tanked again at the end of this last season and it worked. They drafted two teenagers in back-to-back years. All of those moves are not the moves of a team competing. So they’re saying on one side ‘oh we’re gonna bring in guys’ and on the other side they’re not actually doing that.'”
With the Blazers backed into a corner, it’s only a matter of time before he gets traded, and right now, only the Heat are really in play here. But as this saga continues to drag on, the chances go up that a team might get desperate enough to make a real offer before it’s too late.
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