NBA Rumors: Harden’s next move, Warrior hypes Poole, 3-team Lillard trade

NBA Rumors: 3-team trade proposal lands Damian Lillard with Pelicans

The Damian Lillard trade chatter has been virtually nonexistent in recent weeks. It would appear Joe Cronin and the Blazers are comfortable really dragging this out with four years and over $200 million left on Lillard’s contract. Lillard has made his desire to join the Miami Heat plain as day, but recent NBA intervention has opened the door for other teams.

It’s frankly bit shocking how quiet the Lillard market has been. It’s clear the Blazers are willing to move Lillard for the right price, the Heat simply don’t have enough to tempt Portland in the immediate future. There’s a long list of other contenders who should be eagerly pursuing Lillard.

One such contender is the New Orleans Pelicans, who are on the verge of catastrophe if another year of the Zion Williamson era goes sideways. On the other hand, New Orleans has an abundance of draft picks to trade and one of the deepest young cores in the NBA. David Griffin should be making a strong push to team Lillard with Zion and Brandon Ingram in the Big Easy.

Even if Williamson misses half the season again, Lillard and Ingram with a solid accompaniment of role players would put the Pelicans squarely in the contender’s circle. The West is loaded and the NBA in general has more competitive parity than ever before, but the Pelicans have genuine weapons at every position. Lillard was a top-20 player last season. In fact, he’s coming off the best statistical campaign of his career. Concerns tied to his age and contract size are valid, but the Pelicans have the talent to bridge two timelines and compete in the immediate future while Lillard still has the juice, and then still compete once he ages out of his prime.

A recent trade proposal from Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report details how the Pels can land the seven-time All-Star.

There’s a certain abstract poetry to Lillard replacing his former teammate and beloved running mate, CJ McCollum, in New Orleans. The Blazers clean up with quality role players and a few intriguing young pieces, as well as three first-round picks. The Clippers get serious about upgrading their backcourt without giving up the assets required to land James Harden.

The Blazers are definitely getting shorted here. Portland needs to extract maximum superstar value from Lillard at the onset of their rebuild, lest they compromise the next decade of building around Scoot Henderson and Anfernee Simons. The Clippers would probably have to sacrifice more to flip Norman Powell and Marcus Morris into McCollum too, but that’s a feasible extension of a trade that brings Lillard to New Orleans. It’s really on the Pelicans to give up more here. There’s no way Trey Murphy and Herb Jones survive a Lillard deal unless there are four or five picks involved.