NBA rumors: Harden trade update, Knicks crazy MVP hopes, Blazers bluffing

NBA Rumors: Are the Blazers bluffing with Damian Lillard trade patience?

The Portland Trail Blazers are taking it slow with Damian Lillard’s trade request. The 32-year-old point guard has given them a one-team list of preferred destinations: he wants the Miami Heat, and that’s it. For Portland, that makes negotiating the best deal a bit tricky. Especially when Lillard is threatening to not show up to training camp for teams other than Miami.

In order to wrench back leverage, the Blazers are starting to project extreme patience. From Zach Lowe on ESPN’s Lowe Post Podcast:

"“The buzz going around Vegas is they are not entirely bluffing when they say, ‘If he’s on our team in training camp, he’s on our team in training camp. We’re okay with that.’ Maybe they are, maybe they’re not, but that’s certainly what they’re signaling and clearly there’s been no progress at all so to speak of, with the deal with the Heat.” (h/t Bleacher Report)"

We ultimately won’t know if the Blazers are bluffing until the saga plays out, but it feels increasingly possible that Lillard is still nominally on the team when training camp starts in September. He’s too valuable for Portland to trade for less than max value and it’s clear his 11 years of loyal service to the franchise won’t dissuade GM Joe Cronin from playing hardball. Nor will it stop Lillard from making life as difficult as possible on the team that drafted him.

The Heat are ultimately still favorites — such is the way of NBA star trade requests in the modern age. His contract is a sneaky deterrent for a lot of potential suitors, especially when one factor in his potential malcontent status. He’s set to make roughly $60 million per season in his age-35 and 36 seasons.