It’s been two-and-a-half months since Damian Lillard requested a trade. Since then, there’s reportedly been little dialogue between the Portland Trail Blazers and Dame’s preferred team, the Miami Heat.
Talks are ready to ramp back up, though (please yes) as teams head toward media day, training camp, preseason and the regular season.
More pressure will be on the Blazers organization to find a deal for a former franchise star who doesn’t want to be in Portland and, to a lesser extent, a team like Miami, who would presumably want to get Lillard in the door as soon as possible.
The stalemate remains, though, as the Trail Blazers are asking the Heat for additional pieces in a trade and Miami won’t budge. The best thing that can happen for Portland is for another team to make a legitimate offer for Dame, and one, drive the price up, or two, offer a better deal.
Portland sends Lillard somewhere other than Miami in risky proposal
One of the latest trade proposals from ESPN (subscription required) has the Blazers swapping their 33-year-old point guard for another franchise star; or at least the theoretical idea of one.
Instead of giving in to what the Heat are offering – reportedly three or four first-round picks, a young player and potentially a few second-rounders – Portland General Manger Joe Cronin decides to keep Lillard in the Western Conference and acquire young talent rather than future draft capital.
But is it better than what the Blazers could get from the Heat?
Portland Trail Blazers trade Damian Lillard to the New Orleans Pelicans
The original deal tossed out in the article was Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic for Zion Williamson, Dyson Daniels, Kira Lewis Jr., Larry Nance Jr. and Naji Marshall.
Cap guru and former NBA assistant general manager Bobby Marks played GM for this deal (part of four in the aforementioned article) and immediately wrote, “Now this is interesting.”
So we’re off to a good start.
He then picks the trade apart piece by piece, altering it so it makes more sense for both teams:
- Take Nurkic out of the deal. Even if the Blazers want to rid themselves of the 29-year-old’s salary, New Orleans already has Jonas Valanciunas and has no reason to agree to bring Nurk aboard.
- The Pelicans offer the future Milwaukee pick instead.
- Nance Jr. is removed next, as he would put Portland in the luxury tax, which makes no sense for a rebuilding team, which the Blazers still would be, even if they acquired Zion.
- Keep Marshall in NOLA for depth. If the Pels go all-in on Dame, both parties will approach next season as title-or-bust, which means holding onto as much talent as possible.
That gets us to the final deal of Lillard and Johnson for Zion, Daniels, Lewis Jr. and an unprotected 2027 first from Milwaukee.
Is this trade worth it for the Blazers?
Portland would get high marks if this deal were to come to fruition
The allure of draft picks – especially ones that won’t convey for a handful of years, if not more – is often more valuable than the picks themselves. Fan bases can hope those eventually become top-10, maybe even top-5, selections.
The truth is, they often don’t. Proven commodities are more sensible than possible lottery tickets.
Is Zion a proven commodity? Yes and no. When healthy, he’s certainly shown to be an all-NBA-level superstar. At the same time, he’s only played 114 games in four seasons. At the very least, that makes him a questionable commodity – hence Marks commenting on the risk involved for Portland.
Daniels and Lewis Jr. are in the same vein as Williamson, only for different reasons. Daniels is the current en vogue point guard archetype; he’s 6-foot-6 with a versatile offensive skill set and the ability to guard multiple positions defensively, but has a shaky jump shot. Lewis Jr. is a scoring point guard with the speed and athleticism to get downhill and attack defenses. He showed a decent 3-point shot in college at Alabama.
Daniels has 59 NBA games under his belt with averages of 3.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists on 42 percent shooting and 31 percent shooting from three.
Lewis Jr. has played 103 games across his three NBA seasons, averaging 4.8 points on 40 percent shooting and 32 percent shooting from three.
The Bucks’ 2027 first-rounder, if it indeed comes unprotected, could be a significant asset for the Blazers, depending on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s status in four years. If The Greek Freak is playing elsewhere, Jrue Holiday and Kris Middleton will likely be out the door as well as older players who wouldn’t be good enough to carry a win-now team.
Again, a questionable commodity – but still less questionable than first-round picks coming from Miami in 2028 and 2030, and all three of Zion, Daniels and Lewis Jr. have more upside than Jaime Jaquez, who could be a young player involved in any Portland-Miami deal. Their upside is arguably higher than that of Nikola Jovic, as well.
Williamson’s ceiling is certainly higher than anything the Blazers could get in any other Lillard trade.
Trade grade: A-