The Portland Trail Blazers have started making moves at the 2023 NBA trade deadline. They traded Josh Hart, one of their key starters, to the New York Knicks for Cam Reddish and a protected draft pick. It seemingly gave the impression that Damian Lillard is available for trade but that is not the case.

Lillard remains committed to the Blazers and the team is not willing to move on from him, according to Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report. The Blazers are 27-28 but still want to be competitive with Lillard, Jerami Grant, Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic leading the way.

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The noise about the Blazers and Damian Lillard splitting was loud last during the offseason but he and the team are eager to win together. His commitment to the team is beyond well-known at this point and it wouldn't be shocking to see him stay with the Blazers even if they continue to miss the postseason. They obviously want to be in the playoff picture in the Western Conference but that will be tough to do.

While trading Hart for a young, unproven player and draft compensation seems like a sell trade, it could be used in other moves or make up for Hart potentially leaving this offseason in free agency. The Blazers will have a lot of work to do ahead of the deadline after Kevin Durant is heading to the Phoenix Suns, Kyrie Irving joined the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers made a splash in a three-team deal.