As the Damian Lillard trade saga drags on, we’ve heard from a lot of parties. Lillard has made his thoughts known, as has his agent, and we’ve heard ad nauseam from every NBA insider and talking head on the subject. The one person we haven’t heard from is Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin, who finally broke his media silence on Monday.

Blazers GM Joe Cronin spoke with the NBA media gathered in Las Vegas for Summer League on Monday, and, unsurprisingly, the majority of the conversation centered around the Damian Lillard trade situation.

“The goal was always to have Dame retire a Blazer,” Cronin said, via ClutchPoints’ Tomer Azarly on Twitter.

And to that end, the Blazers tried all types of moves to make that happen. However, Cronin admits the team has failed in that regard (h/t Sean Highkin, Rose Garden Report).

“Building around Dame has always been the goal, even through the draft,” Cronin told reporters. “The difficulty we ran into was finding the right deals. We kept scouring the market looking for more win-now players, and those players just weren't available.”

“I don't feel that I did everything I could because I didn't get done what I needed to get done,” Cronin admitted. “In that sense, I do feel like I failed Dame. Our goal was to win now as quickly as possible. If he didn't feel that way, it was a failure on my end.”

The Blazers GM also says that he knows that with Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, and Anfernee Simons now the team’s key players, this is not a “win-now” situation, and he understands why Lillard is upset about that.

Ultimately, though, the biggest bombshell Joe Cronin dropped is that, if a trade does come, it will be all about what’s best for the Blazers, not just Lillard.

“What the rest of [Dame]'s career looks like matters for us. At the same time, we have to find the right deal and do what's best for us,” Cronin concludes. “We're going to be patient. If it takes months, it takes months.”