After rumors came out that Damian Lillard’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, was saying his star would not report if traded to any other team than the Miami Heat, the NBA investigated, spoke to Lillard and Goodwin (who denied everything), and then sent out a memo to teams saying Lillard would be subject “to discipline by the NBA” for any statements publicly or privately he would not report to a team that traded for him.
Enter Shams Charania of The Athletic appearing today on the Rally:
Here we go again.
This comment from Charania can come from one of two things. First, someone in the Lillard camp told Charania this recently and said he could put it out there, meaning they don’t fear the league’s retribution. Second, it could be Charania talking about the older rumors and saying he has not heard differently. Charania is incredibly well sourced, but I will say the league sources I have spoken to expect Lillard would show up to camp if he were traded somewhere other than Miami. Lillard is too professional to do otherwise. The vibe is this will not be like James Harden in Philly.
This report also doesn’t move the needle on a trade. For roughly six weeks, all has been quiet on the Lillard trade front, but with the expectation that talks would heat up before training camp opened. Nothing has really changed in the dynamics of the trade talks: Trail Blazers GM Joe Cronin isn’t a fan of the Miami Heat’s trade package — up to three first-round picks plus some combination of Tyler Herro, Nikola Jovic and others — but no other teams are stepping up with serious interest in the 33-year-old All-NBA player with four years and $216 million left on his contract. Miami will look for a third team that wants Herro and will throw in a pick to the package, but things don’t appear likely to change dramatically.
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/report-echoes-idea-lillard-only-013216802.html?src=rss
Author : NBC Sports
Publish date : 2023-09-12 01:32:16
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