Multiple teams calling Portland about Damian Lillard

The rising expectation from the outside is that Lillard is unlikely to return from abdominal surgery this season with the Blazers clearly playing for draft position now. Harder to forecast is what happens this summer, with Lillard still faithfully pledging his loyalty to the organization and the city while potential suitors continue to tune out those proclamations in hopes that he will eventually ask to be traded, -via marcstein.substack.com / February 10, 2022

This is the current understanding of Lillard’s thinking about Portland. He won’t demand a trade because he won’t run from the grind. The logic felt strained over the summer, to the ticking clock of his prime years, and his urge to win a championship. Now–barring another big deal before the trade deadline—with the Blazers talking about lottery picks and youth, a search of the word “Dame” on Twitter mostly turns up stuff like this: It’s almost as if Blazers management were begging Lillard to force his way out. A theory going around the NBA: that’s exactly what they’re doing. -via TrueHoop / February 10, 2022

After Tuesday’s surprising trade of CJ McCollum to the Pelicans, one theory emerged in phone calls to executives around the league: Perhaps, as the theory goes, Lillard doesn’t want to be part of it. Perhaps the Blazers and their star do want a divorce, but neither wants the bad press of being seen as the instigator. Some sources told me they are sure this is the case. (Amin Elhassan shared the same theory on the Habershow.) -via TrueHoop / February 10, 2022