NBA Trade Rumors: ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski gives when the next deadline is for a possible Damian Lillard trade.
The recent reporting surrounding Damian Lillard and a possible trade is not promising. The Portland Trail Blazers are not ready to engage with the Miami Heat in negotiations and there isn’t much of a non-Heat market at the moment for Lillard. It’s been two weeks since Lillard requested a trade away from the Blazers, but a deal doesn’t appear anywhere close to happening.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, there’s no belief around the league that a deal is close to happening. In fact, according to Woj, the next possible “deadline” for a Lillard trade will likely come closer to the start of NBA Training Camps, which is late September.
That’s when both teams will be in a more desperate situation to get a deal done. It’s clear that both the Heat and Blazers are willing to play this game of chicken with each other. The question is, is that OK with Damian Lillard?
The ball may be in Damian Lillard’s court
At this point, with both the Heat and Blazers pretty much waiting on each other, the ball could be in Lillard’s (and his camp) court. What will he do next? Will he try to push the narrative any further? His agent hasn’t said much in a while, perhaps it’s his turn to come to the microphone to send a message that Lillard wants sent out.
Or maybe they are content with where things stand? Remember, we likely don’t know everything that is going on behind closed doors, in potential negotiations. For all we know, a deal could be done in the next few days (before the end of the NBA Summer League).
Maybe there is more going on than has been reported. Either way, it’s something to keep in mind over the next few days. And if this report does indeed ring true, perhaps the start of training camp (late September) is the timeframe to keep in mind.
It seems it’s more of “when” and not “if” for Lillard. But at this point, it’s almost impossible to predict when this will all go down. And at least for now, the Heat appears to be very much the leader in the clubhouse. However, that could end up changing quickly.