The Portland Trail Blazers are heading towards a no-win offseason
The Portland Trail Blazers are entering a no-win offseason.
We’ve seen it time and time again in the NBA. And, slowly, it’s taking shape once again. This time, for the Portland Trail Blazers. It will leave the team in a no-win situation heading into the offseason. There’s no blueprint on how to move forward.
Yet, that is what the Blazers will be tasked with over the next few weeks.
The tea leaves are beginning to point at Damian Lillard wanting out of Portland even though he has, in fairness, not said anything of that sort publically. However, when there’s smoke, there’s often fire. And if one of Lillard’s closest members of the media is laying the tea leaves, there has to be at least some substance to this story.
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But that’s where the job becomes nearly impossible for the Blazers to navigate. On one hand, the Blazers have to balance Lillard and improving the team to try to win. On the other, the responsibility of the front office is to also put this team in the best position overall.
I’m not sure those two things can exist together if Lillard may or may not want to be traded. And without a clear answer on that front, it could paralyze or at least limit what the Blazers can and can’t do during the offseason.
If the Blazers move forward assuming that Lillard wants to stay, he could make things ugly at any point and handicap the franchise in a potential trade demand. If they quietly try to move him before any of this gets ugly, they’ll end up taking a huge L with the fans.
The Portland Trail Blazers need to be realistic with their offseason plans
Plus, there’s also really no route to significantly improving the roster around Lillard this offseason either. So even if Lillard doesn’t exactly want to demand a trade just yet, and is willing to wait on how the franchise proceeds this offseason, there’s a good chance that he’ll eventually grow weary again and simply do what many expect him to do six months or a year from now – and he’ll be a year old and his trade value might not be at the level that it is at the moment.
No matter how the Blazers elect to slice it up this offseason, they’re currently in a no-win situation. The only saving grace that exists is if Lillard absolutely slams the reports and says he wants to retire in Portland or something on that line of thinking.
Short of that, and the Blazers are still working in this “what if” stage. I don’t think anyone envies what the Blazers are about to head into this offseason and I’m not sure there’s any real way out, short of simply cutting bait and trying to get the most out of Lillard via trade before this gets ugly.
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And, as history suggests, it always gets ugly. So, perhaps the Blazers need to take an L this offseason and look out for themselves at this moment. If not, it could leave the franchise in a very bad spot.