The Portland Trail Blazers have issued a very clear message to teams interested in Damian Lillard. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Blazers are starting to get serious about moving Lillard. “For teams calling about trading for Damian Lillard, the message from the Portland Trail Blazers has been unambiguous: Bring your best offer and make your team our preferred trade destination,” writes Wojnarowski. “General manager Joe Cronin doesn't plan to operate a transfer portal to the Miami Heat and dutifully deliver history's greatest Blazer to his targeted team."
Despite wielding a lot of influence with the Blazers, Damian Lillard has very little tangible power when it comes to this trade. Sure, he can request a trade, but the Blazers hold all the cards that come with that. Lillard is under contract for two years, having already exercised his player option for 2024-25. The 2023/24 season is still months away, meaning that there is very little threat of Lillard sitting out games. Furthermore, Lillard doesn’t have a no-trade clause in his contract. This means that he gets absolutely no say in where he’s heading either. However, Lillard has made it very clear that his preference is the Miami Heat.
Lillard's Agent Adds To Drama
However, there may be an additional angle to all of this stemming from Dame's camp. In the same ESPN+ article in which Woj revealed the Blazers' message, the veteran reporter also dropped another bomb. Dame's agent, Aaron Gordon, has reportedly been attempting to engineer a trade to Miami. According to Woj, Gordon has been “calling prospective trade partners” and “warning against trading for his client”. Woj continues that Gordon has told teams that they will be getting an "unhappy" version of Dame if he isn't traded to the Heat.
So why won't the Blazers simply trade Lillard to Miami? Firstly, it's about saving face for the organization. They have royally screwed the Lillard situation, failing to build anything resembling a contender around their generational talent. As a result of this, the Blazers can't simply acquiesce to Lillard's preferred trade partner without looking powerless. Furthermore, the Heat are very eager to include Tyler Herro in a deal for Lillard. Unfortunately, the Blazers have absolutely no interest in acquiring Herro. That means Miami would need to find a third team to trade with and build a three-team package the Blazers would actually want. Regardless, it doesn't look like the Lillard situation is getting resolved anytime soon.
[via]
