The 2022-23 NBA season was a disastrous one for the Portland Trail Blazers. It was their second consecutive losing season after making the playoffs for eight straight seasons under Terry Stotts.
Chauncey Billups was hired to replace him as head coach and he hasn’t had the impact that the organization had hoped he would.As a result, the Trail Blazers have now come to a crossroads.
Is the 2023 offseason the one in which they will finally accept the harsh reality of needing to trade away star point guard, Damian Lillard?
Lillard has insisted he wants to remain in Portland and see things through with the franchise that drafted him 6th overall in the 2012 NBA Draft. But, recent comments made by him have people questioning if he will get traded. Lillard mentioned the urgency to compete, which the Trail Blazers have shown they are not close to doing.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Damian Lillard & Portland Trail Blazers Updates
But, there are no plans to trade Lillard right now. That is unless he requests to be traded. According to an anonymous NBA executive that spoke to Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports, at that point, the franchise would work with him to find him a new team to play for.
“They’re not going to trade him on their own. He is going to have to come to them and say, ‘OK, it is time, let’s move on,’” one NBA executive told Heavy Sports. “They’re not just going to ship him out to get rid of him. He has shown them loyalty and they’re going to do the same. But more and more, there is a bigger chance he will ask out. He could very well be the focal point of all talk in the next couple months.”
While Portland would almost assuredly prefer to keep Lillard, it could be out of their hands this offseason. After two straight losing seasons and an offseason in which they reloaded the roster around him being a bust, Lillard could seek out a new opportunity.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Damian Lillard & Portland Trail Blazers Updates
Teams are already preparing for such a thing to occur. Deveney shared the names of a few franchises that would jump at the chance to acquire Lillard. The usual suspects, the New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and Miami Heat, were all mentioned as possible suitors. There would certainly be others that would get involved, as anyone who chased Donovan Mitchell and Kevin Durant last offseason would at the very least check in on Lillard.
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