The already drawn out process of a Damian Lillard trade with the Portland Trail Blazers appears to be a byproduct of how there is no impetus for any side to get a deal done.
The Miami Heat are considered the team “most motivated” to trade for Lillard and also his preferred destination, but they are trying to avoid overpaying on a deal if they can as the market is not as high for him considering his age and contract status.
“It could take months,” said Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday. “It could take weeks. I think the absence of a real deadline lurking on a Damian Lillard trade. There’s no trade deadline coming. There’s no NBA draft. There’s no July 1 free agency about to start. All those landmarks in the NBA calendar give teams motivation and give them parameters to get big deals done. The next real deadline for any of these teams is the start of training camp in late September.
“So I think for the Portland Trail Blazers, they don’t want to rush into what they consider to be a bad deal. The Miami Heat, the team that is most motivated to try to trade for Damian Lillard, where Damian Lillard wants to end up, they don’t want to be in a situation where they are bidding against themselves right now. They look out into the marketplace [and] know that the market does not love the idea of paying Damian Lillard a $60 million average at 35 and 36 years old, the last two years of that deal. If this was a contract with two years left, it would be different perhaps. So there’s no rush for either side to be real aggressive in their conversations with each other.”
“I think for Portland, they’re motivated to wait this out and continue to see how we get the most back for Damian Lillard. They don’t see it as moving quickly on a deal, unless Miami came with all of their assets. You know what they’re able to trade for Damian Lillard. They’re not motivated to do that now that they would be bidding against themselves.”
The Blazers signed Lillard to a two-year, $122 million extension in 2022 that Wojnarowski referenced as being a factor in depressing his trade value.
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