NBA Trade Rumors: A dark horse potential landing spot could emerge for Damian Lillard this offseason if he’s traded.
Heading into the NBA offseason, there’s one storyline that could end up dictating the summer – and it’s whether or not the Portland Trail Blazers will trade Damian Lillard. It seems that if the Blazers aren’t able to make a big move to improve the roster significantly during the offseason that Lillard will force his hand and ask Portland to trade him.
And you really can’t fault Lillard for that. He wants to win a championship and it seems that Portland is not in a position where they can give Lillard the best chance to do so. Nevertheless, heading into the offseason, there’s a very real chance that the Blazers end up trading Lillard.
I’m not saying that it’s something that will likely happen but for the first time, possibly, ever, there’s a non-zero chance that the Blazers will elect to move on from Lillard and move forward with a rebuild.
If that does end up happening, there’s likely going to be an all-out bidding war for Lillard. Interestingly, according to one recent report, one potential dark horse landing spot that could emerge during the offseason is the Brooklyn Nets.
An unlikely landing spot for Damian Lillard?
Even though you wouldn’t think of the Nets as an ideal landing spot for Lillard, they are an interesting team to keep an eye on heading into the offseason. They appear to have an up-and-coming star in Mikal Bridges and young pieces and draft picks (thanks to the Kevin Durant trade) that could get them in the conversation as a landing spot.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that the Nets would be able to outbid the competition.
Another thing to keep in mind: if the Blazers do get to a point this offseason where they’re going to trade Lillard, they’re probably going to trade him to one of his desired landing spots. With how loyal Lillard has been to the Blazers, it’s only right for them to return the favor by being loyal right back to him in that regard.
I don’t think the Blazers are going to trade Lillard wherever they want. Lillard will give the Blazers a list of teams and then they will operate from there.
Could the Nets find their way to the list of teams that Lillard would want to be traded to? It seems unlikely, but perhaps they could.