As the Portland Trail Blazers slip farther and farther away from playoff contention, the rumors regarding Damian Lillard's future with the team only grow stronger. The latest on the future of the star point guard suggests that there are multiple teams monitoring his situation, prepared to come forth with an offer should Lillard openly demand a trade.
Per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Lillard is seeking a two-year, $107 million extension in the offseason. For a middling Blazers team, that might not be a wise move if they ever want to build into a contender. Teams monitoring the situation are well aware of this, and could use that to their advantage in future trade talks.
Portland has faith and confidence in interim GM Joe Cronin, but soliciting offers on Robert Covington and Jusuf Nurkic is one thing — navigating offers for Lillard is another thing altogether. Do the Blazers allow Cronin to make the franchise-defining decisions in the coming months and win the job? Rival teams believe they'll have a better idea once they start talking trades in the coming weeks.
Three teams with interest in Lillard told ESPN that they are waiting on him to make an offseason trade demand before calling Portland. If Lillard asks out, they know the Blazers will lose some leverage in the asking price — and are waiting on it. Philadelphia made an offer, but New York never did, league sources said. Lillard's reps offered mixed messages on the star's intentions to stay or go, and rival teams say that the star's camp had real concerns about Olshey's willingness to recommend the extension to ownership in 2022.
If Lillard publicly demands a trade, Portland's leverage in any discussions will be significantly worsened. That seems to be when teams will try to make their push for the superstar point guard, per Wojnarowski. Attacking when the market for Dame is at its lowest seems a logical decision, but even in a weakened market, it will take a ransom to poach Lillard from Portland.
Wojnarowski mentions the Sixers and Knicks as two of the team's keeping tabs on Lillard, with other teams certainly in the mix as well. While a Ben Simmons-Damian Lillard swap has been discussed heavily in the past, nothing ever materialized, though those rumors are bound to re-ignite amid the latest wave of trade talks.
With everything crumbling for the Trail Blazers, and the team reportedly listening to offers on key rotation players such as Jusuf Nurkic and Robert Covington, teams are beginning to hone in on what could be a bargain acquisition of one of the best players in basketball.
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