For a couple of years now, there have been calls for Damian Lillard to leave the Portland Trail Blazers, but he resisted, as he wanted to be loyal to the team. That finally changed on Saturday when he requested a trade.
It turns out, though, that Lillard was ready to ask for a trade on Monday, as per The Athletic’s Sam Amick.
“Truth be told, Lillard was ready to ask for a trade Monday,” Amick wrote. “… There was nothing acrimonious or unsavory about their looming split, but Cronin had made it clear at every turn that their priorities were no longer aligned. Not with his words, mind you, but with his deeds.”
Blazers GM Joe Cronin had stated they wanted to build a winner around Lillard, but drafting Scoot Henderson with the third pick instead of trading that selection for a star meant their priorities certainly weren’t aligned. Lillard wasn’t happy with that decision but still wanted to give the Blazers a chance after a meeting with Cronin last week.
“Yet by the time their meeting inside of Cronin’s office was over, with the GM, Lillard and Goodwin having spent more than two hours trying to find a path forward that made sense for both sides, Lillard decided to wait just a little longer,” Amick continued. “At Cronin’s request, he would give him a few more days to add to the roster in the kind of meaningful way that would convince Lillard that the Blazers would be competitive at a high level again.”
When the only thing of note the Blazers did in free agency was re-sign Jerami Grant, Lillard was finally done. He put in the trade request and hopes to be on his way out at the earliest.
Damian Lillard Wants To Be Traded To The Heat
We do see it with greater regularity now, but a player like Lillard, who averaged 32.2 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 7.3 APG, 0.9 SPG, and 0.3 BPG last season, still doesn’t become available all that often. Quite a few teams are interested in Dame, but he only wants to go to the Miami Heat.
A Heat insider revealed the reasons for that, with one of them being that Lillard loves the city. He also has a ton of respect for the Heat and Jimmy Butler and is good friends with Bam Adebayo as well. They also give him a chance to win, which is the most important thing.
Unlike Bradley Beal, though, Lillard doesn’t have a no-trade clause, so there is no guarantee he’ll end up in Miami.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
