NBA fans, colleagues, and analysts have spent most of the past 11 years urging Damian Lillard to just pack his bags and request a trade out of the Portland Trail Blazers.
And now that he’s finally done it, it seems like the team is refusing to play ball and allow him to choose his next destination. The new front office doesn’t have ties to him, and they don’t feel like they owe him anything.
That’s why he’s reportedly told his agent to get in touch with every single team interested in trading for him to let them know that he only wants to play for the Miami Heat.
Damian Lillard Won’t Play If He’s Not Traded To Miami
“I do what I should for my client. Some teams I did call. Other teams have called me. It’s a respectful relationship with most teams. Truthfully, he wants to play in Miami. Period,” the agent told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
A similar report states that Lillard is so adamant about taking his talents to South Beach that he would simply not attend training camp if he were to be traded to another team:
“He just wouldn’t go,” a person familiar with Lillard’s thinking told Mark Medina of Sportsnaut. “He just wouldn’t report. I don’t think the other team would trade for him knowing that he doesn’t want to be there,” the source added. “He’s a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer so they should respect his wishes.”
The Blazers could be stuck in a difficult situation, so perhaps, the easiest way to deal with this predicament is to work together with the Heat to try and make up the best offer for Lillard’s contract before things get any uglier.