NBA Trade Rumors: The Portland Trail Blazers are making an effort to end the Damian Lillard saga before the start of NBA Training Camp.
It’s been a long two-and-a-half months since Damian Lillard officially demanded a trade away from the Portland Trail Blazers. The only constant through this entire process has been the fact that he wants to be traded to the Miami Heat. That said, with the start of NBA Training Camps less than two weeks away, there’s still no guarantee of that happening anytime soon, or at all.
Nevertheless, if the Blazers had it their way, this entire Lillard saga would be over soon. In fact, there’s hope that it could be.
Is a Damian Lillard trade on the horizon?
On the BehindthePlayPodcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said that the Blazers are trying to resolve the Lillard situation before the start of training camp. In other words, Portland seems to be pushing toward a potential Lillard trade in the next two weeks.
I’m not sure if the Blazers are close but they almost have to pick up the pace on Lillard trade talks if they’re going to accomplish that goal. At least for now, there could be a path toward realizing that this may be the situation.
Right now, it’s clear that the Blazers are trying to gauge the market for Lillard. It’s no surprise that we’ve seen talk of “dark horse or mystery” teams come into the fold over the last few days. If there is any type of non-Heat market, it would be wise for the Blazers to explore it.
Perhaps this weekend or after a few more days of exploring the open market, maybe that’s when the Blazers will ultimately make a decision on how to proceed forward. Portland knows what Lillard wants, but that doesn’t mean the Blazers still aren’t going to do their job.
Whether or not the Blazers end up doing right by Lillard remains to be seen. But you’d have to imagine that the next logical step for Portland is to take any offer that they’ve found out there to compare it to Miami’s. At that point, it will open the door for real negotiations.
At least that has to be the hope from the Heat and Lillard’s perspective. There’s no guarantee that will happen, however. I’m not sure how this all ends, but there’s at least some hope that the end of this saga could very well be on the horizon. And that’s good news for all parties involved.