NBA Rumors: The Portland Trail Blazers and Damian Lillard continue to play a game of chicken as both refuse to acknowledge the writing on the wall.
The next few weeks for the Portland Trail Blazers will go a long way in determining the fate of the franchise for the next few years.
The big question that the team has to answer heading into free agency – Is this finally the time to trade Damian Lillard? For the past couple of weeks, it seemed that this storyline was about to be resolved, with the tea leaves beginning to show the possibility of Lillard pushing toward his exit as the Blazers refused to trade the No. 3 overall pick for veteran talent at the NBA Draft.
Adding to that, when it was reported that the Blazers general manager and Lillard were going to meet to discuss the team’s future (and possibly Lillard’s), there was a hope that this was possibly going to be the time when we’d see some actual news take place. That this narrative and storyline would be pushed forward.
However, after the meeting was concluded, the statement that was released by the general manager left much unsettled.
Portland Trail Blazers GM Joe Cronin issues statement on meeting with Damian Lillard: “I met with Dame and Aaron Goodwin this afternoon. We had a great dialogue. We remain committed to building a winner around Dame.”
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 27, 2023
In short, nothing has changed and the two sides are continuing forward. If anything, there’s one thing that we can take after what transpired yesterday – that both sides are playing one high-stakes game of chicken.
The Portland Trail Blazers, Damian Lillard refuse to see the writing on the wall
The writing is on the wall. Every move that the Blazers have made for the better part of the last few months has indicated this team is ready for a rebuild. Looking at their roster, this would be an ideal time for a rebuild. And considering that Dame doesn’t want to rebuild, it’s clear that it’s probably time or him to move on.
In fact, both sides would benefit greatly from parting ways at this point.
All that said, it seems that neither the Blazers nor Lillard wants to be the “bad guy.” Neither wants to be the one to “demand a trade” from Lillard’s point of view or “simply trade” Lillard from the Blazers’ point of view.
Even though this is something that should probably take place this offseason, there’s still no guarantee that it will happen. Not as long as the two sides continue to ignore reality. With NBA Free Agency set to begin later this week, the next few days will be interesting to follow.
How will this all end? Who knows. At this point, it’s almost impossible to predict.