Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin didn’t appear to be posturing when he recently commented on the status of Damian Lillard‘s trade request, according to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, who writes that there wasn’t any buzz at Summer League about progress between the Blazers and the Heat on a possible deal.
Based on the way Portland has patiently handled the situation thus far, Fischer believes the process could indeed take months. The Blazers are said to be looking for something in the neighborhood of a Kevin Durant-type return in exchange for Lillard — a couple of very good young players and four first-round picks.
Here’s more from Fischer:
- The Nets have been linked as a possible third team trade partner in talks between Portland and Miami (with rumored interest in Tyler Herro), but league sources tell Fischer that Brooklyn hasn’t had any serious talks involving Ben Simmons on that front. As Fischer points out, the Nets are surely aware that Simmons’ value has cratered, but they also seem “genuinely intrigued” by pairing a healthy Simmons with a much different roster in 2023/24 after trading Durant and Kyrie Irving.
- The Suns have been involved in trade talks regarding point guard Cameron Payne, with Phoenix targeting Pacers point guard T.J. McConnell, perhaps in a multi-team deal, Fischer reports. Payne recently had his expiring $6.5MM contract fully guaranteed, while McConnell will earn $18MM over the next two seasons, $13.7MM of which is guaranteed.
- The Knicks continue to actively explore Evan Fournier trades and are open to multi-team scenarios, sources tell Fischer. Fournier was pulled from New York’s rotation fairly early last season, only appearing in 27 contests and struggling with his shot in limited minutes. The 30-year-old will earn $18.86MM in 2023/24 and has a $19MM team option for ’24/25 that is highly likely to be declined.
Herro to nets is not likely. Miami has hit up every team on the block to move herro. They want too much for herro. Has to do with his contract being so high and long. Good player but teams have their cap used and he created an awkward fit. Plus nets need a backup big.
I like how the Nets are trying to fabricate trade value in Ben Simmons by saying he is part of their core, they want to see him with the new roster. If they could get Dame for Ben Simmons and 3 1sts instead of 4 or 5 hed be gone.
So far, MIA and/or DL’s agent have made it easy for Cronin to ignore them. This may be deliberate on their part. Either because they need time to figure out the best package they can offer, or maybe because they feel that whatever it is, it will look better as we get closer to the start of the season. But certainly good for Cronin as well.
Or maybe Miami doesn’t have anything of value to offer Portland in either players or picks. Two late first round picks, two unproven bench rookies, broken down Lowry,overpaid Herro. Laughable.
That’s a given. They don’t have much. But, in that spot, with an exclusive audience (or at least a preferred one) for the time being, the best approach is usually to be aggressive before that exclusive runs out. A lack of energy is going to wear on DL (and his ridiculous 1 team trade demand) long before it does on POR.
The longer it goes, the less interested Miami is gonna be in the deal. The minimum salary shelves are getting picked pretty bare, and if they do a 3 for 1 or something, they’ll need bodies. I don’t think this happens at all.
Takes 30 days to get Jaime in it , they can’t leave the deal w out him –
It will be with Mia and it will be a tad lite in the end but that’s ok for Por –
I don’t believe they need to hit this deal outta the park to hsve a healthy future as much. As it’s being portrayed
What pressure is there for Portland to do anything? Dames already turned his back on the team. The more he sits out the more they absorb scooter
Jacquez isn’t the guy Portland wants. It’s Jovic. Although they probably want both.
Nets get Caleb Martin, Nurkic, Herro
Heat get Cam Thomas, Dame, Ben Simmons
Blazers get Claxton, Jovic, Robinson, Lowry, 2 FRP Heat 3 SRP Heat, 2 FRP Nets (their worst ones) and 2 SRP Nets.
What’s solved here -Nets get 3 quality players for a decent center, on an expiring deal. They dump Ben Simmons, and they had no plans for Cam Thomas.
Heat get their guy – Dame. And maybe they can salvage Ben Simmons.
Blazers get Claxton – a young center they could extend, Jovic a TBD, Robinson a 3pt specialist who remembered how to shoot, Lowry a buyout candidate or mentor for Scoot, 4 FRPs and 5 SRPs.
That would be a win, win, win. No one is offering 4FRP and 5SRPs by themselves so…idk money works, haul works, but what do I know? Leave it to the greater minds to twiddle their thumbs, draw this out, wait until Dame hurt and drops in value, maybe he tumbles down a driveway and knocks himself out…
That is a great trade
That’s actually not a bad 3-way proposal — it does speak to needs of all three teams and their respective ability to absorb the various salaries.
HOWEVER, Miami won’t be able to absorb contracts for both Lilliard ($45,640,084) and Simmons ($37,893,408) under their cap — they are actually already more than $52 million over the cap and this would represent a net addition of just over $2 million. This also leaves a gap of almost $30 million between what they would be taking on salaries and those of Portland and Brooklyn.
If reducing their cap hit is a concern, they would pass on Simmons and instead ask for Royce O’Neal or Dennis Smith Jr.. Slotting either of those in the proposed trade would satisfy matching salary requirements.
BKN isn’t trading Claxton (any more than they’re trading Bridges). Whatever interest they supposedly have in Herro, I’m sure it’s not about a desire to downgrade their interior defense in order to add to a stacked group of wings.
Alright, hear me out. Another possibility is that Cronin and Dame are sending whistles in the direction of BKN and MIA for a year now and letting other teams know exactly the goal (Dame to MIA) so they can pitch deals that help… then If the trade happens closer to mid season or at the deadline next year, that will let everyone see that Dame is still worth the assets in return. More teams can get into the mix for a variety of reasons and with useful assets to trade around for different reasons. Brooklyn gets a chance to showcase Bridges and Simmons. That team ain’t winning anything, ever, with DEN/Jokic out there, no matter how good Simmons gets, but his value can increase quite a bit over the season.
So the end game becomes something where
MIA gets Bridges and Dame creating another super-team: Dame, Butler, Bridges, Bam, +any PF.
Portland gets a revived Simmons (assuming he does well ofc) and a couple FRPs for a kickstarted rebuild that will be ready to compete when MIA ages out.
I’m not sure where BKN gets their return for Bridges and Simmons, but that could be Herro from MIA and Simons from POR, some more FRPs plus whatever they can get of value from the other suitors trying to get rid of contracts or wanting something from MIA (Herro, Lowry, etc) BKN then goes the Jazz route and piece together their own kickstarted rebuild and are also in position to be very competitive when MIA and DEN age out of their window.
Remaining loyal to your squad only to put them in a position to not get a great deal for you makes all that loyalty goodwill vanish quickly, 1 team trade requests are for toddlers
If the Nets could somehow get Herro and use someone like Dinwiddie along with Cam Thomas and what not as extra compensation then that would be a great deal for them.
Simmons Herro Bridges Johnson Claxton
Or however you care to name it
Herro Bridges Johnson Simmons Claxton
That would be a really good little team.
Pending Ben being fit, healthy and the same player he was before all the nagging injuries.
You have Ben as the main ball handler and facilitator. Herro as a real go to scoring option, Bridges the leader and face of the team. Johnson a really good 3 and D guy for floor spacing and Claxton as another good defender to kick it all down
Yaaaaawn!