Lost in the whole Dame saga is the Chris Haynes article, sourced by Dame and his agent, stating that Joe Cronin and the Blazers coaching staff pressured Damian Lillard to sit out so that they could purposely throw basketball games with the purpose of getting a high draft pick.
> According to sources, Portland had asked Lillard to sit out the final 10 games of the 2022-23 regular season to help the franchise improve its lottery odds. He was told the higher the draft pick, the better chance they had at using the pick to facilitate a trade for a proven veteran player. He reluctantly acquiesced to being shut down, citing a “calf injury.”
> Portland went 1-9 to finish the season and would go on to win the No. 3 pick and select Scoot Henderson, a promising young point guard the team planned to keep.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10091305-inside-the-messy-divorce-between-damian-lillard-and-portland-trail-blazers
Adam Silver has said that this type of thing would be punished with the swiftest and harshest penalties.
> “The former can be a legitimate strategy to construct a successful team within the confines of league rules; the latter — which we have not found and hope never to see in the NBA — has no place in our game. If we ever received evidence that players or coaches were attempting to lose or otherwise taking steps to cause any game to result otherwise than on its competitive merits, that conduct would be met with the swiftest and harshest response possible from the league office.”
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/22605642/nba-commissioner-adam-silver-sends-memo-saying-tanking-teams-punished
The most appropriate punishment would be for the NBA to void Scoot’s contract making him a free agent. The next fairest punishment would be to void their 2029 Milwaukee pick and the 2024 Portland pick.
It’s a black eye on the league to see a team like Portland circumvent the rules and damage the integrity of the NBA product with their purposeful losing. Additionally, the Blazers violated the injury reporting rules by giving Dame a fake
by SolarPoweredDevil
15 Comments
Dame trying (and failing) to force his way to Miami on the first year of a supermax was a black eye on the league. You had no problem with that though…
This is a huge deal. Adam Silver needs to make an example out of them, especially with Dame being on the record stating that it’s true.
Many teams do it.
Why pick on Portland.
Hardly the first star that’s been told to sit
I would like to see it
The Mavs did it for like 3 games last season and they got punished, if Silver lets the Blazers off the hook for this then he has some obvious bias
Thank fuck my favorite team aren’t ping pong ball merchants
I thought with the Lillard trade we’d be done with the Blazers talk. Are we seriously still here?
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Guys cmon, move on. Theres no need to look this rediculous.
But they’re a sMaLl MaRkEt TeAm. Gotta handle them with kid gloves.
Team petty!
Who the fuck cares? Y’all are acting like emotional lesbians about this.
This is pointless. Most there gonna get is a fine or get some 2nd round pick taken
Yes fuck Cronin and Portland forever bum ass franchise with no rings
What else he gonna do? They’re already Portland
Scoot
Simons
Sharpe
Grant
Ayton
Seems like an actual legitimate rebuilding team instead of this teams who start legitimate pylons to drop in the standings…they got two really young guys, two guys who will have something big to prove (especially Ayton who now will get more focus on him) and a veteran in Grant. Holiday will likely eventually be shipped but he’s also another vet there if they keep him for a bit.
I know you guys are upset he didn’t join your team (and yes Cronin was likely negotiating in bad faith), but we’ve seen much worse teams out out there from teams trying to tank. You guys should know, you’re in a division with the Hornets/Bobcats, Magic, and Wizards Lmaoo