Damian Lillard’s situation sounds pretty familiar right now. He’s one of the best payers in the NBA, has outgrown his small-market team, and there are rumors of him wanting to pursue an NBA championship somewhere else.
Lillard has often said that he wishes to stay loyal and play his entire career on the same team. He’s even criticized players like Paul George for ‘running from the grind’ and teaming up with other stars to win a ring.
But, given the current status of the Portland Trail Blazers, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him backpedal from those comments and choose a similar path for him, requesting a trade and forcing his way out of the team.
NBA Rumors: Damian Lillard Wants To Wait Until The Trade Deadline
Nonetheless, according to league executives who spoke to Bleacher Report’s Eric Pinus , Lillard won’t demand a trade right away as some expected. Instead, he’ll wait until closer to the trade deadline to see how his team pans out:
(Transcript via Eric Pinus of Bleacher Report)
“It sounds like he is not getting moved anytime soon,” the East source said. “From what I’ve heard, [Lillard is] going to give it a chance and then decide closer to the [trade] deadline.”
"I'm not sure how Olshey is going to get that done," a former Western Conference executive said. "Everyone in the NBA knows [the Blazers] are up against it. No one is going to help Olshey solve the Lillard crisis."
Surely, no one will like to do the Blazers any favors if that means that Lillard won’t be available, so the front office has an uphill battle ahead of them. They don’t have that much money to spend in free agency and are likely to lose Carmelo Anthony and maybe even Jusuf Nurkic.
The Blazers need to be aggressive in trade talks and in their pursuit of talent if they want to retain their franchise player. He’s said that he hasn’t requested a trade, but he didn’t commit or vowed not to do so in the foreseeable future.
