Recently Adrian Wojnarowski took stock of the situation on the relationship between Dame Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers.
As is known, the point guard asked for a trade at the beginning of the summer, indicating the Miami Heat as his preferred destination.
The ESPN reporter explains that after the Summer League in Las Vegas the negotiations stopped, and there are no other teams around the league willing to satisfy the Trail Blazers’ requests.
For this reason, the Oregon team, barring a surge in negotiations at the start of training camp, would be ready to start the regular season with Lillard regularly on the team.
The team could re-evaluate the situation after the first 20 games, in the hope that in the meantime the panorama of teams interested in a trade has changed.
At that point Lillard, who averaged 32.2 points and 7.3 assists per game last year, could end up in the sights of other teams.
For example, a franchise off to a better-than-expected start might decide to go All-In.
Wojnarowski believes that a multi-team trade is more likely, especially in the event of an agreement with the Heat, given that Portland continues to not be interested in the ‘package’ that the Florida team can offer.