What’s the worst-case scenario for the Blazers?
It’s hard to find what the exact worst-case scenario is for the Portland Trail Blazers because, in a way, they’ve already lost Damian Lillard. But there are still several worst-case scenarios that could play out between now and the start of the season. For one, Lillard could suffer an injury at any point. And that would almost immediately destroy the trade value that he has at the moment.
If the Blazers are having a difficult time finding worthy trade offers for Lillard right now, it’s going to be even more difficult if he were to get injured. That’s a no-brainer. So that’s one risk the Blazers are taking with every day they refuse to negotiate a trade right now.
The one other worst-case scenario that could arise involves the Heat deciding to move on and pursue another star via trade. If that were to happen, the Blazers would lose almost the entire trade market for Lillard. In that case, you’d have to wonder what Lillard would do next. Would he open his list of preferred destinations further or decide to remain in Portland? I’d lean towards Lillard staying with the Blazers.
That seems like a great outcome for Portland, but it easily could not be. The idea of Lillard finishing out his career in Portland, especially at this point, sounds a lot better than it actually may be.
Even with Lillard, there’s no guarantee that the Blazers would be a playoff team. In fact, there’s probably a better chance that they’d be stuck in mediocrity over the next couple of seasons until their young potential stars develop. And Lillard on the roster would stunt their development a bit.
Then, by the time their young stars may be ready to take the reins, Lillard will have retired and the Blazers wouldn’t have assembled many other young talents due to their mediocrity years with Lillard.
The Blazers are unquestionably in a tough situation. However, there’s no question that the best potential option for them to do involves trading Lillard. I predict it will eventually happen, once their pride subsides.