The three-year contract that brought Damian Lillard back to Portland contains a rare no-trade clause. In a mailbag column, Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report (subscriber link) speculates on why the Trail Blazers were willing to include it.
Highkin notes that Lillard has talked about his personal reasons for wanting to return to the Pacific Northwest, which allows him to be close to his children as he wraps up his career. The no-trade clause gives him the security of knowing he won’t have to change teams again unless he wants to.
Highkin suggests that general manager Joe Cronin may have believed it was necessary to offer the no-trade clause to help regain Lillard’s trust after sending him to Milwaukee in the summer of 2023 when his first choice was to go to Miami. Highkin also notes that it might have been a tradeoff for Lillard accepting less money than he was eligible to get. Lillard will make $14.1MM on his MLE deal this season before declining to $13.4MM the following year and returning to $14.1MM in 2027/28. With maximum 5% raises, he could have earned about $2.8MM more.
In response to a separate question, Highkin admits there’s reason to be skeptical about whether Lillard can resume being an elite scorer after he returns from the injury. He offers a comparison to Kobe Bryant, who was also 35 when he tore his Achilles, but notes that medical advances over the past 12 years will work in Lillard’s favor, along with the fact that he plans to take 18 months to recover.
There’s more from Portland:
- Donovan Clingan and Yang Hansen will see most of the center minutes, while Robert Williams III will be a wild card, Highkin adds in the same piece. Williams has played 26 combined games during his two seasons in Portland, but Highkin says he’s healthy this summer. He’ll likely see limited minutes and won’t be used in back-to-backs, but he should be at least a part-time factor in the middle.
- The Trail Blazers are being very guarded about their sale process, Highkin adds in a separate mailbag. He doesn’t expect any details about potential buyers to be leaked before a sale agreement is in place, but he expects the franchise to go for at least $4 billion.
- Portland Mayor Keith Wilson had a 30-minute phone call with commissioner Adam Silver on June 4 to discuss the city’s commitment to keeping the Trail Blazers, according to Andrew Theen of Oregon Public Broadcasting. The call took place about three weeks after plans were announced to sell the franchise. Cody Bowman, a spokesperson for the mayor, said Wilson has “been working closely” with team officials throughout the sale process.
Real nice town ya got here. Be a shame if something happened to every single big league team you have. Of course. you would still be a First Class City. Like Boise, or Bismarck. It’s not likely a major Northwest area could lose it’s NBA franchise. Especially after winning a world championship back in the 1970s.
Ain’t it the truth….and no one with money…
Damian Lillard deserves the no trade clause and I’m happy he’s going to be able to finish his career with the Portland Trail Blazers.
I honestly think they need to trade Robert Williams III to a team that can use him as their backup Center. They will be able to get one or two second round picks for him.
I don’t see them being able to trade Jrue Holiday or Jerami Grant because they both have three years on their deals.
I honestly think with Damian Lillard Jrue Holiday and Jerami Grant all under the contract for the next three years and all the really good young players on the roster.
This will be Damian Lillard best chance at winning a championship.
They have very nice defensive players and they have size. They have shooting and this is a team that can compete in 2026-2027 season.
@Champ
Williams is being paid $13.3 mil this season, and will be a UFA after that.
Considering how many times during this contract he’s been said to be “healthy” in the offseason and then barely played, I don’t think there’s any team that will risk trading for him.
I tend to agree with your positive outlook on the Trailblazers, I believe they’re trending the right way. Now, with that being said, I’m afraid they will be lucky to even make the play-in tournament next season.
On paper, the West is absolutely loaded with quality teams for this upcoming season. Honestly, it isn’t very hard to talk yourself into roughly ten to twelve teams as legitimate playoff threats. Out of those teams, there’s about a handful of teams that will go into next season with legitimate aspirations for a Championship.
Unfortunately, even though they have improved and they should look significantly better, Portland is just probably still on the outside looking in when it comes time for the playoffs.
Best chance but still no chance
Hansen is going to have to be like Sengun to justify the pick. The blazers could have traded back with the nets for 26 and a future first and then used both the nets and Orlando pick from Memphis possibly to get off Grants contract. Trading Ant for Holiday and buying out Ayton. You got no assets in your two best players that they always said they could get two firsts for each. With the next 3 years of extensions coming for Sharpe,Scoot, Deni,Toumani, and Clingan. Having Holiday and Grant the last year of the their contracts making a combined 70m. It is going to big time problematic for the new owner.