NBA Trade Rumors: Which non-Heat teams would be interested in Damian Lillard?

Teams that can’t make real offers for Damian Lillard

After those cuts, there are five teams remaining that would theoretically be interested in Damian Lillard. However, the Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers are two teams that simply don’t have enough in the way of assets to truly get in the bidding war for Dame. That could make things even more complicated for Portland and Lillard’s camp.

Neither the Lakers or Clippers have much in the way of draft capital to offer the Blazers and it’s tough to see them finding a path toward making a strong offer for Lillard. If the Blazers are mad at the offer that they’ve gotten from the Heat, any offer that the Lakers or Clippers (assuming they wouldn’t trade any core players) would make would be much worse.

The Lakers and Clippers are two teams that should be interested in Lillard in a vacuum, but they can’t really afford to make an all-out effort to acquire Lillard. Under that assumption, that really leaves three teams that might be Portland’s only hope of an all-out bidding war breaking out for Lillard. Let’s dig into that possibility.