[Wojnarowski] Lillard has 4 years [$216 million] left on his contract, and that’s part of what’s holding up the trade market… It’s not because teams think Lillard will be unhappy or won’t play for them if traded… The issue has been his age and paying him over $60 million at 35 & 36 years old
by achickenquesadilla
@National Basketball Association
25 Comments
This turned into a monster shit show for Lillard and the Blazers. I doubt he thought it would go like this when he requested to be traded.
If Portland can figure out a way to pay half the salary then we’ll take him. Otherwise no.
At least it aint 60 million for Jaylen Brown
That’s not even Jaylen brown money.
Are we still pretending like he won’t end up in Miami?
The real concern is that Dame is going to fall apart in the next couple of years and then you’re stuck with the most unmovable contract in the NBA.
If you actually knew you were getting this Dame for the next 4 years, the money would be fine.
but r/nba told me his age and contract doesn’t matter
For this has always been one of the biggest factors in determining his value. And particularly why the Durant comparisons fall a bit flat. Dame is a phenomenal player. But he’s a small older guard on an enormous contract. Chances are that of the 4 years he has left he has 2 good ones and then 2 years of an enormous cap hit.
How much can you realistically trade away for that player? I don’t think the rumored Miami offer is all that unreasonable (setting aside how interested you are in Herro as a player).
The problem is when you factor in age and contract he won’t be a positive asset in 3-4 years. That’s a lot different than the AD situation who could still get a big return for after 4 years, same for Mitchell most likely.
I’d rather stick with the group we have than give up everything for him. Odds are against winning a title in the two year window we would have with him
Yahh duh. Old news.
Anyone one with an internet connection and could navigate over to spotrac has known this for over a year now and the question always popped up if dame was available who would pay him and take on that contract.
For certain teams in history this would be a no-brainer, to pay this much for 2-3 year championship window. But I dont see any teams which are in that position, that can afford trading for Dame. Miami wont be a serious contender with/without Dame, but they are known for doing these deals for aging stars and someohow always surviving cap problems to make a solid team
Did I not say from the beginning that extension would be a disaster. He’s probably going to stay in Portland until the trade deadline
and Miami comes back with the length of contract issue
it’s legit, just funny it took so long. Paying Lillard 60 million at 36 and Jimmy 52 is tough; plus Jimmy could opt out for an extension after 2 years and break the bank.
I can’t even take these kind of reports seriously from Woj or Shams anymore. I don’t know if they’re actually reporting facts or not and have started reading everything through the lens of “Which team or player is trying to manipulate them into saying what I want them to say?”
Like maybe this is true but maybe it’s an attempt to lower Lillard’s value to make the Heat’s offer seem more reasonable so the trade gets done. I have no clue at this point.
I’d say “duh, no shit”… but this fact seemed to have escaped literally 29/30 fandoms on this sub.
I am certain he ends up in Miami.
I’ve had to argue with people on this subreddit for suggesting this. Like what’s the value of a PG who is 33, coming off a missed season entirely, and who is owed 120mil the last two years of his deal at 35-36. Like you’re not getting Barnes for that, you’re not getting 5 first round picks for that.
The reality is, there are maybe 2-3 teams that would consider this move. I’ve always said the best deal they’ll get will come from Miami, because they’ll be the ones to offer the most. Until someone can actually come up with a “better deal” than the Miami one, this is all a moot point. Blazers won’t move him to save face and will move him at the deadline for less than they could’ve gotten now. They could’ve gotten more for him at the draft but they were dumb as hell.
All this “pressure” and “leverage” the blazers have is really just holding on to Dame and that’s it. They’re not going to get a better deal and everyone knows that considering there is only one team that wants in. There is more traction on who is getting Tyler Herro right now than there are teams lining up to get Lillard. Thats just how it is right now. The best case scenario is a dark horse team like TOR offer Barnes and it’s not likely. Utah doesn’t have a young guy to offer, they can offer picks, those picks will be late round picks because Utah will be competitive.
Essentially, you can either do right by your franchise guy and send him where he wants to go, or ruin that relationship forever by sending him to another team with a similar or worse package out of spite.
Aside from Boston giving up Jaylen Brown, there is NO team in the NBA that can give a better package than 4 FRP, Jovic, high-smith and Tyler Herro, and still compete for a ring. And there’s no reason to get Lillard if you’re not competing.
His salary isn’t holding this up at all. Him being a total ass is holding this up. Once he gets annoyed at sitting out for 2-3 months, and the Heat are a middling 7th seed, he’ll open up to other teams (Boston, Sixers, and etc.) and be traded fairly easily.
AKA we want to shift the narrative to Portland cap dumping Lillard and the Heat are doing them a favor by offering the package they have.
Which is exactly why it doesn’t make sense for some team (other than Miami) to give up valuable assets. A 33-year old PG with injury issues who doesn’t want to be there? It only makes sense for Miami because their best player is the same age range and he is exactly what they are missing to win a title.
I don’t care. People can talk about age, contract, all this other bullshit until they’re blue in the face. The Miami offer sucks, and no amount of nonsense media posturing is going to tell me otherwise.
You point out that Jaylen Brown’s new contract is actually X% of the cap and therefore not that bad? “Wow what an intellectual!”
You point out that the same logic applies to Dame, players are playing well later and later into their careers, and just because the contract looks bad in the final years doesn’t mean that he can’t live up to the contract in the years until then? “WELL AKSHAULLY THERES NO MARKET FOR DAME SO U NEED TO TAKE MIAMI’S PILE OF GARBAGE”.
Look at how many players across all sports are playing well in their early-mid 30’s these days. Dame isn’t some guy aggressively using his athleticism to get buckets, his game is aging fine. KD got traded for a Gobert level deal, he was also under contract for like 3 years, and is older than Dame. Now I’m not saying Dame is as good as KD, but he’s close enough that the offers for those two players shouldn’t be dramatically different. Suns gave up 4 picks, a swap, and two fantastic young players. Meanwhile we have fans being like, “well Jovic is basically worth a first round pick and so is Herro so that’s two picks and we have 2 picks so that’s enough right?” AD, Gobert, KD, PG13 trades all had franchise cornerstone level young players moved in the trade. Sure, some of those guys didn’t show who they really were until they got to the new team, but they all had that potential. But we’re supposed to just put Tyler Herro on that same tier as guys like Mikal/Shae/Markannen/Ingram who were key pieces going out in these trades?
There is no timetable for Portland. People think that because he wants out that Portland should take a lesser deal. He’s under contract for 3 more years! If the deals out there suck right now, wait until better deals come along. The Scoot Henderson era is not on pause because Dame hasn’t been traded right this second. Even if Scoot’s first year has Dame still in town, who cares? Scoot is still gonna get a lot of minutes, and Portland will likely lose a lot of games as planned. Sit on him and trade him next year when a new set of desperate teams appear and are willing to offer better assets.
What’s funny is blazers saying they gotta do right by they franchise like getting some huge haul for dame automatically equals future success.
Y’all could get 10 first rounders, but what ya front office gonna do with them ? Nothing from the Trail Blazers in the last 30 years suggest they got a plan 😂
I think Dame will probably still be decent at the end of his contract. The cap is going to go up every year, and his game is not quite as dependent on athleticism like John Wall or Russ. Obviously he’s not going to be great value but I think people are overblowing how bad it is. Athletes are staying healthy for longer than ever, and Dame hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, he just had one of his best seasons ever.
While this could be a Woj hit-piece, it’s also true. The last 2 years of 59 and 63 mil are ABSURD.
He’ll be fine at 36 he ain’t Westbrook or anything. I think teams that bring him on know they’re in win now mode and a 3 year window for a championship is good enough.