This guy, Joe Cronin.
Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin stated in a press conference Monday afternoon at Thomas & Mack Center that it could take “months” to trade Damian Lillard because the franchise needs to put them in the best position possible.
Cronin said the last time that he spoke to Lillard was July 1, when Dame put in his trade request.
With four years and over $200 million left on his contract after inking a two-year extension with the Trail Blazers last summer, Lillard has made it very clear that he wants to play for the Miami Heat and ONLY the Miami Heat where he would create an immediate Eastern Conference championship-favorite Big 3 with Lillard, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.
At this time, Cronin said he hasn’t found a deal that would be suitable for Portland.
Here are the full comments from Cronin regarding Damian Lillard:
Joe Cronin says he has not spoken to Damian Lillard since the trade request and there has not been any meaningful movement on trade talks.
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) July 10, 2023
Joe Cronin: “Building around Dame has always been the goal, even through the draft. The difficulty we ran into was finding the right deals. We kept scouring the market looking for more win-now players, and those players just weren’t available.”
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) July 10, 2023
Joe Cronin: “I can see why Dame would look at it and see why this isn’t a win-now opportunity. From that standpoint, I understand it and respect it.”
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) July 10, 2023
Joe Cronin: “In any deal, the goal is to come out with the best outcome. It could be more of a win-now player. It could be a young player and picks. It could be just picks. There’s no set parameters.”
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) July 10, 2023
Blazers GM Joe Cronin on Damian Lillard’s request to be traded to Heat: “As a team, you always hope that you have more options. To have limited options like that, I wouldn’t call it frustrating but it prevents you from perhaps getting the best return.”
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) July 10, 2023
Joe Cronin: “What the rest of [Dame]’s career looks like matters for us. At the same time, we have to find the right deal and do what’s best for us.”
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) July 10, 2023
Joe Cronin: “We’re going to be patient. If it takes months, it takes months.”
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) July 10, 2023
Joe Cronin: “What I will say about Shaedon, Scoot and Anfernee is that they’re going to be ‘win-now’ players very, very soon.”
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) July 10, 2023
Joe Cronin: “I don’t feel that I did everything I could because I didn’t get done what I needed to get done. In that sense, I do feel like I failed Dame. Our goal was to win now as quickly as possible. If he didn’t feel that way, it was a failure on my end.
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) July 10, 2023
You can watch Cronin’s press conference in its entirety here:
What you’re witnessing here is nothing more than hardball between Damian Lillard and Joe Cronin.
Remember the report from the other day: Damian won’t report to training camp if he’s not traded to the Miami Heat, and I’m willing to bet that includes the Portland Trail Blazers at this point. He would just pull a Kawhi Leonard, where he didn’t play for the San Antonio Spurs whatsoever until he was traded. Dame could simply do the same thing if Cronin wanted to take this into the new season.
And that’s the thing … is Portland willing to take that risk? (RELATED: LOL! Commissioner Rob Manfred Relentlessly Slammed With Boos So Loud At The MLB Draft That You Couldn’t Hear Him Speak)
Not only would it be a reputation killer that would take Portland years to recover from, but it would kill the trade value of Damian with him not playing. Miami could easily play that angle, and at this point, Lillard doesn’t care about being a villain to pull all of this off — and easily at that.
I’m calling the Blazers’ bluff.
Like I said…
Damian Lillard to the Miami Heat is a done deal.
(Like this tweet for when the news breaks)
— Andrew Powell (@AndrewPowellDC) July 6, 2023
Damian Lillard will be a Miami Heat — 100% guaranteed.