NBA rumors: Klay to Bahamas, Lack of Lillard suitors explained, Sixers good vibes
By Kyle Delaney
NBA rumors: Lack of Damian Lillard suitors explained
Another day passes and Damian Lillard is still a Trail Blazer. Many wonder how this is possible for an All-Star player like Lillard. (I mean, his agent actively advised teams against trading for him, but still.) Sean Deveney, senior contributor for Forbes believes the lack of a bustling market could also be due to Lillard's contract, age, and injury prevalence.
"There’s not that many teams that are going to give you a bunch of players and picks for a 33-year-old who can’t stay healthy and has a giant contract sitting there.," said one NBA front-office executive. We've all witnessed this to be true in the shape of Miami's lowball offer to the Blazers. An offer that Charles Barkley even called, “unfair,"
Over the next four seasons, Lillard is guaranteed around $215 million. If picking up that contract wasn't enough of a gamble already, the fact that Lillard's 33-years-old and has missed 77 games the past two seasons makes it even riskier. According to Deveney's league source, "It was not anything Dame said or Aaron Goodwin said that shut down the market. That stuff didn’t help. But there weren’t teams lined up for him even before that.”
Hopefully, Lillard's limited list of destinations doesnt come back to haunt him. It's possible that Lillard's steep price tag, age, and injury history all contributed to the lack of trade activity.