Trail Blazers Notes: Lillard, Williams, Centers, Sale Process

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 that 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.