NBA Trade Rumors: The Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors are emerging as the most likely landing spots for Damian Lillard.
Just when many believed that there was some sort of Damian Lillard resolution coming, it seems like there may not be. Or perhaps it just may not be the resolution that many were expecting. It’s been nearly three months since Lillard demanded a trade to the Miami Heat. However, at least up until now, the Portland Trail Blazers don’t appear willing to hammer out a deal with the Heat.
Because of that, it’s opened the door for offers from the rest of the league to float in. And according to a recent report, at least for now, the most likely non-Heat landing spots for Lillard appear to be the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors.
As ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski noted, there doesn’t appear to be a deal imminent. However, we all know how quickly that can change in the NBA. For now, if the Blazers aren’t able to find a path toward a deal with the Heat, it looks like Lillard could be traded to Chicago or Toronto.
Will the Portland Trail Blazers circle back to the Miami Heat?
The big question that will need to be answered over the next few days is whether or not the Blazers will end up circling back to the Heat. At least from an outside perspective, you’d have to imagine that Portland is going to give Miami a chance to best a potential offer in place that Portland may get (that they also like) with a team like Chicago or Toronto. And that’s no guarantee.
But if one does materialize over the next few days, does Toronto go back to Miami and ask them to beat it?
It’s hard to say considering we don’t really know the place that Blazers general manager Joe Cronin is operating from. Is he being smart by playing this out to the very last minute? Is he being petty by refusing to talk to Miami? There are too many variables that we simply don’t have information on.
And because of that, it’s almost impossible to predict how this is all going to end.
What we do know is that Portland probably wants to trade Lillard before the start of training camp. That’s now a little more than a week away. The clock is ticking and the entire NBA is watching.