The Portland Trail Blazers are currently trying to figure out how to handle Damian Lillard’s trade request, which is made extremely difficult by Lillard and his agent Aaron Goodwin publicly stating the only team he will play for is the Miami Heat.
That, obviously, puts a significant damper on his trade market, as other teams are wary of putting offers on the table for Lillard if there’s a threat of him being disgruntled or unhappy in a situation that isn’t Miami. The Heat, meanwhile, don’t have the type of players or assets the Blazers are looking for in return for Lillard, particularly because Tyler Herro is a bit of a redundancy for a Portland team already full of young guards like Anfernee Simons, Scoot Henderson, and Shaedon Sharpe. The result has been a stalemate, but the issue of stars demanding trades to specific teams (and doing so publicly) has become an issue teams aren’t happy about.
On Friday, word broke from Shams Charania that the league sent a memo to teams saying they had interviewed Lillard, Goodwin, and other teams and made it clear that there would be potential discipline for players or agents that make statements about only wanting a trade to one place.
NBA sent a memo Friday to all 30 teams about Damian Lillard’s trade request and the stance that he only wants to play in Miami. Reporting details on @TheRally: pic.twitter.com/xkgMfcTeqI
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 28, 2023
Now, Lillard is not alone in doing this — James Harden is in a similar position with his request to leave Philly for the Clippers and has done this multiple times in his career requesting a trade and having a specific destination in mind — but it’s an issue the league is seemingly tired of and looking to nip in the bud. As far as the discipline is concerned, the new CBA states that any player publicly demanding a trade can be suspended or fined up to $150,000.
As Charania notes, Goodwin has walked back his previous comments and denied the report from Adrian Wojnarowski he’s called teams to tell them Lillard won’t play for them. We’ll see if that changes anything with the pursuit of Lillard from teams outside of Miami, but with this verbiage in the new CBA, this is the first time the NBA has taken the opportunity to remind players of the new rules and make clear they’ll be looking to enforce them if players and agents are brazen in their attempts to direct a trade to one place.