Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers failed to make the playoffs this season.
Despite the best efforts of all parties involved, a team that once made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals has regressed on annual basis ever since.
Naturally, this has prompted questions regarding how much longer Lillard will remain in Portland.
Rumors regarding him getting traded have hovered in the background for years now. But in light of how this season ended, they have grown louder as of late.
This past week, NBA insider Frank Isola highlighted five teams that could make a serious play for Lillard’s services: the Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets.
A look at the Nets future and Damian Lillard talk with @ChrisShearnYES and @TheFrankIsola pic.twitter.com/h06tc3UL3y
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) April 22, 2023
“Lillard is a big-time player and I think he’s gonna be on the move,” Isola remarked.
“I think he’s gonna end up in the Eastern Conference. You wanna look at Miami, you wanna look at Atlanta, you wanna look at Philadelphia, you wanna look at Toronto, you wanna look at the Brooklyn Nets… I think all those teams are gonna go after Damian Lillard.”
During a recent episode of his podcast, ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst agreed that Miami, specifically, was a destination to watch.
“I think the Heat are on the cusp of looking for another star maneuver,” he said.
“I would put them on the list for Dame Lillard if Dame ends up getting traded. If he goes to market, I think the Heat are on that list. I don’t know if they have enough. A lot of their offer would be built around Tyler Herro, who’s just injured,” Windhorst continued.
“But I suspect, I don’t know for sure, just to be clear, I don’t know for sure that they would offer him, but I would suspect that that would be the type of thing, that and draft picks.”
A trade between the Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers has also been much-discussed, though it remains unclear how feasible one would be at this juncture.
It wasn’t all bad news for the Wolves last night. https://t.co/fxnY5mp7rj
— Game 7 (@game7__) April 26, 2023
Lillard is inarguably one of the best players in the NBA today and an all-time great already. There is a reason he made the league’s top 75 all-time list.
But the lack of recent postseason success is beginning to wear on his legacy. It would behoove all parties involved to switch things up.
Will the Blazers finally trade Lillard at some point in the foreseeable future and give him a realistic shot at winning an NBA championship? Time will tell.
Related: NFL Fans React To Kay Adams’ Latest Wild Video
A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
