Regardless of one's feelings about the Damian Lillard-Portland Trail Blazers trade saga, it is safe to say things have taken a somewhat melancholy turn. That is probably an inevitable fact of almost every divorce, but fans had reason to believe this could be one of the more painless and straightforward splits.

While there does not appear to be any animosity between Lillard and the Blazers following the long-anticipated trade request, there has been some negativity hurled in the seven-time All-Star's direction. Thursday morning, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Lillard's agent, Aaron Goodwin has called other potential teams in the market for him to warn them not to pursue a trade with Portland. The Miami Heat are reportedly the only acceptable suitor to the 32-year-old.

Naturally, people are going to form opinions about Lillard's flexibility. And the 2021 NBA Teammate of the Year appeared to respond to all of the speculation surrounding him these several days.

“I'm amazed,” Lillard tweeted, prompting a response. “Why,” Portland's sports radio station 750 The Game replied. “At how people could know so much and so little at the same time,” the veteran point guard clarified.

Cryptic tweets are synonymous with athletes in general, but Damian Lillard has become quite the master of ambiguity during this whole complicated process. He gave people a bit more than usual, though, clearly snapping back at his critics. Whether that means he is directly pushing back on some of the reports or merely cautioning fans not to unfairly jump to conclusions is unclear. What is obvious, however, is how exasperating this has been for him, the NBA world and probably the Blazers.

The chatter will continue. That is just how these situations go. If Lillard does wind up with the Heat like he wants and then wins a championship, the backlash will mostly fade. There is no better persuader of public opinion than winning. That doesn't make things any easier now, though.