When the Portland Trail Blazers moved up to No. 3 in the lottery, they had the opportunity to make a win-now trade to improve their chances of contending with Damian Lillard. But Joe Cronin explained how no win-now trade materialized using the selection that became Scoot Henderson that provided equal value for the Blazers, similar to when they selected Shaedon Sharpe at No. 7 in 2022.
With the Blazers drafting another high upside young player, Damian Lillard decided to request a trade on July 1st.
“Building around Dame has always been the goal all the way, even through the draft,” said Cronin via Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “The difficult things we ran into were finding the right deals. In the previous two years, we drafted at seven, then we drafted at three. In the meantime we were scouring the market looking for more win now players and what kept happening was those players just weren’t available. So each time we just tried to weigh that.
“In Shaedon’s draft, pick seven, what does that look like versus what’s available on the market. And the answer was obvious: Shaedon’s better. And same thing happened this time. What does pick three look like versus the return to the market? It wasn’t close. Had to go three. So it wasn’t necessarily intentional, it was just doing what’s best for this team, and we kept doing that and I could see why Dame would look at it and say. ‘Well this isn’t a win now opportunity as much as, or this isn’t as much of a win now opportunity as some other places.
“So from that regard, I mean I understand his position and I respect it and it makes sense to me why he would look to go elsewhere.”
The Indiana Pacers have emerged as a legitimate trade partner with the Toronto Raptors for Pascal Siakam, sources tell Marc Stein of Substack.
Siakam is entering the final season of his contract and reports of his potential availability have increased.
The Atlanta Hawks have also logged interest in Siakam, while other teams could also emerge.
Siakam has signaled a preference to remain with the Raptors, but the departure of Fred VanVleet is believed to have led the team to prefer giving more runway to Scottie Barnes and OG Anunoby.
“The Raptors are indeed far more prepared to surrender Siakam than initially realized,” writes Stein.
Trade discussions of Damian Lillard by the Portland Trail Blazers have been slow to materialize as Joe Cronin evaluates the market.
One complicating aspect of the trade is the value of Tyler Herro as the Blazers have signaled they are not interested in taking him back from the Miami Heat. Herro signed a four-year, $130 million extension with the Heat last year.
“I do think, as I talk to teams around the league, there is a framework with Miami where Portland could end up with three, four, at least several first round draft picks,” said Shams Charania on the Pat McAfee Show. “I don’t know if it will get to four. Miami has two they can trade outright. I think there are multiple teams who would trade at least one first round pick for Tyler Herro.
“So then you’re maybe looking at expiring contracts, potentially three first round picks, maybe more. Maybe other assets, swaps.”
Charania adds that this is a critical week for the Lillard trade discussions considering most of the NBA is in Las Vegas for Summer League.
