The NBA offseason is underway, and there has been a lot of action already. The Philadelphia 76ers seem to be making an underrated maneuver by hiring Phil Beckner as a coaching consultant. According to Yaron Weitzman, Beckner has ties with Damian Lillard that could intrigue Portland Trail Blazers star point guard.

Lillard is on record stating he has not demanded a trade away from the Blazers. He even called out Henry Abbott on Twitter, claiming Abbott has been reporting falsified information. Regardless, trade rumors have been rampant throughout the offseason, and the Sixers might have acquired someone to help persuade Dame into moving away from Portland.

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Phil Beckner is a longtime friend and trainer of Damian Lillard. Now that he has a job as a coaching consultant for the Sixers, perhaps Lillard thinks longer and harder about demanding a trade. The thought of him playing alongside Joel Embiid is intriguing, as they would likely become the best point guard-center duo in the league.

Even so, there has been no word of Lillard's interest in joining the Sixers, even though we know Daryl Morey wants him bad. Portland has been doing its part in building a team around Lillard, bringing back Norman Powell and then bringing in Ben McLemore, Tony Snell, and Cody Zeller. The front office is more likely to trade CJ McCollum, as the Trail Blazers are deep with shooting guards, but that trade might not happen either.

As of right now, the most likely scenario is that Lillard remains in Portland, while the Sixers find a different trade partner for Ben Simmons. That is if the Philly front office lowers the asking price for him, because it has been exorbitant.

Perhaps in the future, though, the Sixers will try to strike again on a Dame trade.