(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
After the Portland Trail Blazers decided to select guard Scoot Henderson with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, superstar guard Damian Lillard knew it was officially time to move on from the team he has been the face of for the past decade.
Despite being adamant about never wanting to demand a trade out of Portland, that’s exactly what he did, as he wasn’t willing to go through another youth movement with the team and potentially waste the rest of his prime in the NBA.
Once the trade demand was issued, Lillard let it be known that he only wants to play for the Miami Heat moving forward, urging the Blazers to make a deal with Pat Riley and company this summer.
So far, those trade talks haven’t gone well, with the Blazers being reluctant to agree to a deal with the Blazers, and now things have gotten even worse for Lillard, with the league issuing a memo to all 30 teams on Friday.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the NBA’s memo states that Lillard will be subject to discipline if he continues his public stance on wanting to be traded to Miami.
NBA sent a memo Friday to all 30 teams about Damian Lillard’s trade request and the stance that he only wants to play in Miami. Reporting details on @TheRally: pic.twitter.com/xkgMfcTeqI
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 28, 2023
This is an unprecedented move by the league, as these kinds of things happen all the time, but maybe the way Lillard wants to be dealt to the Heat has rubbed the NBA the wrong way.
Much like Lillard, in an identical situation, James Harden has requested to be traded with the Los Angeles Clippers, the team he wants to play for.
However, Lillard has become the fall guy here and may be used as an example of what not to do moving forward regarding player trade requests.
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