Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard plans to discuss rumors about his future with the organization after today’s practice with Team USA, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
A report this morning by Henry Abbott of TrueHoop states that Lillard plans to ask for a trade within the next few days, citing a source close to the player. Lillard will presumably address that report at his session with the media. He risks a fine from the league for making a public trade request, so anything less than a full denial would set off alarms in Portland.
This isn’t the first time that rumors have emerged that Lillard might want to move on. He has been with the Trail Blazers throughout his nine years in the NBA and has talked in the past about wanting to spend his entire career with one organization. But Portland has been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in four of the past five seasons, including a loss to an undermanned Nuggets team this years, and recently underwent a coaching change, with Chauncey Billups replacing Terry Stotts.
Lillard, who has called the 2020/21 season the most frustrating year of his career, discussed why this is such an important time in his career during an interview with Haynes.
“There are few reasons: One being I’m not getting any younger. Our environment has always been great,” Lillard said. “We’re not losing a lot, but we were eliminated by a shorthanded Denver team that I felt we should have beat. I just walked away from that really disappointed. I was like, ‘Man, this just isn’t going to work.’ We’re not winning the championship, but we’ve got a successful organization. We’re not a franchise that’s just out here losing every year and getting divided. We have positive seasons; we just don’t end up with a championship.
“So I feel like at this point, I basically made the decision that if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll always be where you’ve always been. Just like I hold myself accountable for a bad performance or hold myself accountable to make sure that I work my ass off when I’m training, I must be accountable for saying what needs to be said even if it’s not popular. And that just comes with age. When I was younger, I felt like maybe I’ll be out of place, but I feel like I’ve earned the right to say we must do better. We must do better if we want to win on that level.”
Besides suggesting that Lillard intends to request a trade, Abbott also says within his report that Blazers owner Jody Allen may be looking to sell the franchise. If one or both of those claims are true, an already-eventful offseason in Portland will get even more interesting.
Lillard is expected to be available to reporters at about 2:30 pm CT this afternoon, as Chris Mannix of SI.com tweets.
I am hoping he stays in Portland. If he is traded Portland will get a boat load of players for him. My guess is the knicks will go all in for him.
A handful of teams that could trade for him can top most if not all packages Knicks could offer though.
If GSW gets him for Wiggins, Paschall, 7, 14 and some more future firsts, I will never badmouth the FO on here ever again lol
In the long run that makes them worse and Portland could be come the team to beat in the West in about 3 years. What i don’t like about Lillard is his poor defense. Wiggins is better defensively. can all offense win you a championship?
So you dont think Steph, Klay, Dray and Looney (or any incoming C) are good defensively? Interesting. I have the first 3 as elite. GSW was a top 5 defensive team last year and look how far that got them. There is such a thing as too much defense, and we saw what happens with that. GSW needs titles NOW, who gives a crap about 3 years from now when you have 3 GOATS in their primes today???
Curry elite at D?!?! Wow
Curry is average on defense. We have no idea how good Klay will be after 2 years off. Looney is inconsistent on D. Going against a much taller center he gets own. If I am Portland I want Poole. he could be a 20 point PG for Portland.
Defense doesn’t matter if you have Steph Dame and Klay (assuming he comes back whole). Plus Draymond as a playmaker.
The way the game is called now elite offense will always win out. For better or worse.
Curry is ELITE on defense now, he has improved every season. Mind blown youd say this.
Curry isn’t elite on Defense by any metric ever, that’s literally crazy.
Klay will need half the season to ramp up to what he was before he got injured. The Dubs will be super careful with how they accelerate his minutes. (offensively, he won’t be a problem though)
We do need another big though and if we give away Wiseman (who I think will be a good comp with Ayton in a few years), we def need to find another cheap vet. Looney has brick hands and also isn’t able to jump/shift his feet fast enough against quicker bigs. C’mon, as a fellow Dubs fan, you know this.
Looney has elite IQ and is a positive defender based off that alone, his IQ allows him to pretty much exist in the face of all those things you said about him – see, I actually know them more than you!
I agree I would love to properly develop Wiseman by playing him at SC for 30 games and then bringing him on slowly at GSW. I love the idea of trading Wiggins in a multi-teamer for Myles Turner, who’s timeline fits better than him but also he’s always going to be tradeable if Wiseman forces the issue. Then trade everything else currently on the table for LaVine.
Classic problem with super fans your grossly over valuing your teams players.
What is the best offer? It’s all about trade offer
Clippers
Mavs
Warriors
Celtics
76ers
Knicks
Heat
Knicks going al in on Sexton was Knox the 19th and 32. Not sure the all in by the Knicks is all that good!
Knox $6m salary has negative value, I think
This draft
32nd pick is worth $5 million
Here we go.
Every team can trade for him if he tells Portland exactly where he wants to go. It’s the NBA, players control their destiny.
Knicks not interested in gutting the team and its immediate future for him though.
Yes they are
Source?
All it takes is for 1 owner to have heart and say “NO”. Players have no more leverage in the NBA than they do in any other sport while under contract. If Dame is signed for more 3+ years. I’d tell him to shut up and dribble! LOL
Still a lil mad about that election, huh?
Not at all. You simply missed the joke.
Yeam…NBA players have no leverage says Harden, AD, KYRIE and Porzingas
Did they have 3 or more years remaining on their contract when traded? Because that’s clearly something I referenced in my comment!
Paul George ring a bell?
Casor guys like you are the worst. If you hate the players being in the spotlight and being so powerful in the league then why follow the league. If Dame requested a trade he would get it, when your a super star you don’t have to shut up and dribble (a gross racist statement meant to undermine the humanity of NBA players by the way).
Ringless Splash Bro 3 who already is a Bay Area icon has entered the chat
Time for Morey to get to work. Here’s hoping Maxey or Thybulle won’t be included, although I know that won’t be the case. If both of them have to be included, then honestly, I hope Philly doesn’t do it.
They’d both have to be included and you do it. Have to maximize the next few Embiid years.
Simmons and another asset for Lillard
Simmons, maxey, thybulle for lillard works well for both parties.
Blazer get younger and better defensively with Simmons. Lillard goes to a team needing a go to scorer to help take pressure off embiid.
It does really work but if I’m Morey, I try and see if they take Shake and another pick instead of one of those 2.
Morey isnt trading both Maxie and Thybulle id think
Bingo!
You can get another Maxey in practically any draft, and Thybulle is a more valuable piece in the trade.
This trade definitely works for both teams.
May even soften a McCollum trade elsewhere for another high level player.
Simmons team, which is important to him.
He might even take a 17 footer now!
It’s going to cost “nearly “whatever the Blazers ask for and Morey is going to do it… The 6ers have exactly one untouchable and are going to have to overpay to get this trade done. Assuming this is happening, you better hope the Blazers have an interest in Simmons (Honestly, I think they will).
It all depends on if Olshey wants to trade for a Simmons-centered package. That’s a huge dice roll compared to taking a million picks from the Pelicans, Knicks, or even the GSW package.
Simmons is 25. If he doesn’t substantially improve in the next 2 years then Olshey goes down in history as the guy who traded the best Blazer since Drexler for the perpetually flawed Ben Simmons.
I’d still rather get an asset I know something about than picks.
He seems big market bound and by process of elimination! The la teams both of them have no assets at all to bid here seriously and nets have no assets or likely desire to bid here ! So dame will likely want to play for the Knicks , sixers , heat or warriors , he can’t block a trade though
Ant Simons is gonna win MIP next season. Bet the farm on it
I really can’t fault his thought process on this. He gave them time and they should not have lost to Denver. Time to go
Mavericks!!!
We’ve gotta do a better job.
– ‘The Great Cheesesteak Eater’, Andrew ‘Ham Sandwich’ Reid
Way to go Portland media… went after the most loyal superstar in the league and alienated him all in pursuit of their stupid narrative.
Not sure Portland even trades him he has 4 years left on his deal. But I’d imagine at this point the front runners are the Warriors and Sixers maybe Heat
Lillard would have go to a team that’s ready to win it all, or he’s just changed jerseys, not situations. He’s 31, so the championship pieces need to be in place upon making the trade. Even if the team’s FO is clueless enough to think they can get him and then magically find pieces to put around him, he shouldn’t be amenable to it.
How many trade destinations really make sense for all three parties (both teams and the player)? In the East, I think just PHI. With more heavy lifting, MIA, IND or ATL, although I don’t see it happening in these cases. If they’re OK dealing him in conference (I think they shouldn’t care here), DEN (if they can eat the tax). GSW (if they decide to roll the dice on health and a truly small lineup). With more heavy lifting, DAL.
It will depend on how much say Olshey really has in the matter. I don’t see him rolling the dice on Ben Simmons learning how to shoot (which is the only way that trade isn’t a disaster for Portland).
Honestly I think Golden State is probably the best bet here. Getting a legit #2 pick at 20 yrs old is better than 5 theoretical firsts that will end up mid lottery picks more often than not. Then 7+14 and Wiggins contract.
The other possible destination is New Orleans. They have the most appealing future pick package outside of OKC who just makes no sense for Dame.
I think he has to roll the dice. Just for his job security, the Dame trade demand is a godsend. Without it, the next 12 months will be another rinse and repeat, and he’d have to be gone. He’s unable to just do a basketball trade for basketball reasons. He needs a trade demand for cover, like most of these clowns.
NOP is interesting, in that they have enough pieces to satisfy both ends (to send to POR and retain to play with DL). But the non-POR side of this requires a deal maker. I just don’t think Griffin is up to it.
The Willie Green hiring does not suggest a Lillard get is planned for NOLA.
I’d take Wiggins, Wiseman, and 7 + 14 for Lillard. Might even try into squeeze them for another 1st round pick 3-4 years from now.
Wiseman was mad disappointing last year so his value isn’t that of a 2nd it’s more like that of a 5 or 6 where he would be drafted in a redraft.
It was one truncated season and he still can’t drink legally. He’s still a #2 pick and historically in terms of projected value the guys 1-3 are eons more likely to become stars than the players selected further down in the lotto
He was selected number 2, obviously, but would he be drafted number 2 in a redraft? Hell no he wouldn’t, he would be drafted number four at least, he never even had a chance of making the all rookie first team even without his injury and fit issues.
So now we’re redrafting guys every year?
Brandon Ingram was trash his first year. Ayton was blah his first few years. Joel Embiid was considered basically a bust for his first 3 years. There are a lot of top 3 guys who struggle initially but end up being All Star caliber guys.
I’d much rather take that bet. Then get a future first that will probably end up being a mid-first.
Portland is not a bad team , but it will not win a championship with dame around . Not because he isn’t great , but it’s the team around him . And the best trade piece to get better is him . So I’d say trade him . Teams that can prolly give a good package to get him is 76ers , Celtics , knicks , warriors , and maybe the heat or a few others . But like the knicks for example if your giving up Barrett , Robinson , toppin and picks , what does same have to work with ? At least with the 76ers he would have embid and Harris . With the warriors he would have Steph and klay . I say he gets dealt this off-season
RJ Barrett
Mitch Robinson
Knox and Ntilikina for Salary
#19, 2022 1st rd, 2024 1st rd
for
Dame Time
The Knicks are going to make a substantial offer.
But it’s hard to see a duo of Dame and Randle seriously contending. If NY could somehow entice Olshey into taking Quickley + every pick imaginable and absorbing Dame into space then maybe.
But Portland will get better offers so Dame would probably have to request a trade specifically to NY for that to happen.
Make a Thread just trade packages for Dame… upvotes wins
3 team deal with wolves and 76ers. Calling it now.
Who do the Blazers get in return for that one?
Anthony Edwards or DeAngelo Russell. There’s no other players worth it for Portland
That noise you hear is Knicks fans breathing heavily as they piece together packages of failed former draft picks to offer in exchange for Dame.
That will really suck to see Dame away from POR!
Then again, when he talks ’bout doing better, usually he underperforms in the playoffs, compared to the RS, this year was a big exception, but usually he flops, so I assume when he speaks ’bout doing better he must mean first & foremost himself, right?
Finally, I think that would be a sucker punch for POR after they got “his” guy as a HC & then he leaves, POR will be stuck with a bad HC they got to please Dame… not cool, right?