[Article](https://www.theringer.com/sports/2023/7/13/23793048/damian-lillard-nba-trade-rumors-toronto-raptors)
>Damian Lillard’s trade demand has created a tense standoff between himself, the Portland Trail Blazers, and the Miami Heat, which is reportedly the only organization he wants to play for. There are other teams with reported interest out there -the Clippers, Jazz, Nets, Sixers, Spurs, and Celtics, to name a few-but there’s one relatively under-the-radar suitor that makes as much sense as any other: the Raptors.
by lopea182
21 Comments
I’d say Masai needs to do this. Doesn’t seem like they’re giddy to rebuild or let go of their veterans. Dame’s on a longer deal than Kawhi was when they went for him. Dame + two way guys is a scary recipe. They could make a push in the East for sure
You’d have to add a third team to make salaries work, but Portland would probably like Scottie Barnes + Gradey Dick + picks of some sort
LMAO if the Blazers send his ass to Canada that would be the funniest shit ever
OG, Trent, Boucher and picks for dame fuck it (no one reply to this)
Pina is a hack lol
Lmao all Ringer guys have been yelling “anywhere but Miami” for days now
The parallels between this and the KD trade saga from last summer are growing exponentially, right down to the Raptors and Celtics being thought of as sleepers.
Time really is a flat circle.
Pina is crap but why wouldn’t a barnes for Dame be beneficial for both teams? Some ppl think barnes is the next coming of kawhi (lol) but Dame on that raptors roster with pascal and OG could be a real contender. Isn’t the point of playing to win championships? Seems like most fans and teams like to dream about championships in the future rather than making a move to win one now. IMO its all about job security with these gms.
Lol, isn’t this what happened with Durant? Writers just trying to will it into existence, but Toronto not interested in trading youth for guys approaching the end of their prime with recent injury trouble and recent trade demands (who want to go to a specific team that isn’t Toronto).
Raptors didn’t want to trade Barnes for Kevin Durant
They aren’t going to do it for Dame
I think it’s a good trade if the Raptors wanted to go all-in. It’s a big gamble though and I just think they would be better off going more towards a rebuild or reboot. They have a lot of assets that they could get value back for to jump start a rebuild and already have Barnes. At the same time they haven’t really leaned into a rebuild yet so far (kept OG and Siakim etc.) so maybe Massai isn’t interested in rebuilding yet.
Cut the BS, if there’s this many team that’s seriously interested then this trade have been done weeks ago. Raptors and Jazz can easily beat any offers in the table but here we are still f5-ing like fools lmao. Maybe it’s time to realize that the Raps and Jazz aren’t interested like at all.
A trade around Barnes and stuff for Dame sounds like a win win for both sides
I’m actually down on Scottie and don’t think he has legit all nba potentially. But I actually do like a deal with the Raptors because he at least fits a position we don’t have a good young guy at really. Something like Scottie and 1-2 1sts and filler makes sense for both teams imo.
Pina needs to write articles for Ok! Magazine or something with all these romantic speculations
This is such a dumb trade for the raptors lmao
It only makes sense because the players on the team have more value than anyone else who would be willing to offer. Nobody knows what the raptors are doing so everyone just yells muh trade at every good player who’s disgruntled
The biggest problem is salary matching. Let’s assume, fine, Barnes and Dick go. They’re on tiny contracts. Just to get to Dame’s you’d need to find $30-40m more. Barnes+Thad+Boucher+Flynn+OPJ gets you there, ish… but you’d be gutting the team just to salary match. (Not that those are great bench players, but we still would need to fill the slots somehow.)
Now, had FVV stayed, and we paid him in a S&T for Dame… another story. (Not that Portland ever would have done this.)
Dame – GTJ – OG – Siakam – Poetl is actually a really good lineup, but I hate that Masai would get rewarded for his shitty GMing the past couple years
I’m sorry, I just don’t understand how adding Dame to this roster makes them a contender in the east. You’re basically upgrading from FVV to Dame, but you’ve lost your ROY and a solid glue guy.
You’re gonna get by the Bucks, Celtics, and Heat with that?
“90% of the NBA is interested in Lillard but you know what team is under the radar? Another NBA team”
Don’t really see much in this story that details the interest the Raptors have in Dame or any sources. That said, they may be interested, and a day with the Raptors realistically could be done. They do have the pieces and though the Raptors still wouldn’t be considered among the main contenders for a title, they’d at least be in the conversation as a dark horse.
None of this matters as long as Dame’s stance on only playing in Miami remains what it is. I think Portland is similarly mostly committed to doing right by Dame…just at their price.
Send him to the wizards. It makes the most sense. Cronin can rule the blazers with an iron fist.