SAN ANTONIO — Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard has reportedly requested a trade, and the San Antonio Spurs could make a blockbuster deal to pair the seven-time All-Star with Victor Wembanyama and Gregg Popovich.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news on Saturday morning, the day after free agency opened. Some of his colleagues have mentioned the Spurs as a potential landing spot for the star point guard. After Woj broke the news, Ramona Shelburne added reporting that set off air-raid sirens in the Alamo City.
"The Heat is Lillard’s preference here. But he also has a deep respect for the San Antonio Spurs organization, sources told ESPN," Shelburne said.
Shelburne later elaborated on air in a panel discussion about potential destinations for Dame.
"I also think you should keep an eye on the San Antonio Spurs here," she said. "The Brooklyn Nets have a lot of picks, the Portland Trail Blazers would want to get back young players and picks, but the San Antonio Spurs are a team that... I keep hearing this, that Dame has a lot of respect for that organization. There’s a fascination with Wembanyama, there’s a fascination with the idea of Gregg Popovich. I know the Spurs are seen as a facilitator team here, and they certainly could be that, but there’s a lot of interest from Dame’s side in the San Antonio Spurs as well.”
What sources would tell ESPN this information, and why? Reading between the lines here, it seems that the reporting on Dame's respect for San Antonio probably came from his camp. It sends a clear message to Spurs GM Brian Wright, and that message is to make the Blazers an offer.
Woj also reported that Portland will likely seek a return that is heavy on young players and draft picks, as moving on from Lillard will jumpstart a rebuild around the number three pick in this year's draft, Scoot Henderson.
Earlier in the week, ESPN's Bobby Marks pointed to San Antonio as a dark horse team to land Lillard in case he did request a trade, and the Spurs are in position to give the Blazers a huge package of picks to get a deal done if they want to.
If it feels like people have been speculating about Dame potentially leaving Portland for years, it's because they have. Lillard has always maintained that he wanted to remain loyal to the Blazers, but years of middling results seem to have strained that loyalty.
The last straw may have been when Portland jumped up to the third pick in the draft and used the pick on Henderson, a 19-year-old point guard who could grow into a franchise cornerstone, rather than trading the pick to help build a winner around Lillard in the short term.
Shelburne reported that Lillard wanted to give the team an opportunity to bolster the roster in free agency, but he made the decision to request a trade on Friday night.
Lillard and Gregg Popovich won a gold medal together with Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics. In fact, the allure of playing for Pop was a motivating factor for Dame to join the squad.
“Pop being the coach of the national team played a big role in my decision to commit,” Lillard told the Associated Press at the time. “I have a lot of respect for Pop as a coach and as a person. I look forward to playing for him, taking in his basketball knowledge and seeing what our team can do.”
Pop had praise for Lillard after the Blazers dismantled San Antonio in a game this past season.
"We're scoring enough points. We're not getting enough stops and a lot of credit goes to Damian [Lillard] tonight. He was great," Popovich said. "He got the better of us. He's a great player. He's who he is and we couldn't stop him. He did a great job."
Any package for Lillard would have to include a bunch of first-round picks, and San Antonio has plenty to spare. They could send five future firsts to Portland and still have extra picks, which is mind boggling and a testament to how Brian Wright has been able to flip players for picks in recent years.
However, expect that the Spurs will be reluctant to ship out pieces of their young core. They've had a slow start to free agency, and the plan seems to be to avoid any big shakeups and maintain the flexibility and asset pool they've spent years diligently building.
Keldon Johnson is a quality wing and locker room leader on a team-friendly contract, Devin Vassell is extension eligible, and the team is super high on Jeremy Sochan. If Portland insists on one of those players being included, it could be a deal-breaker for the Spurs.
But the potential of adding Lillard could be too tantalizing to pass up.
Dame is one of the best shooters to ever touch a basketball, and last year scored a career-high 32 points per game to go along with 7 assists and 5 boards. He's an unselfish point guard, but when it's time to call his own number it often results in nuclear scoring performances. This February he put up a career-high 71 points and hit 13-22 from three in a win over the Rockets.
Pairing a player of that caliber with 7'3" top pick Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio's other young talent and Gregg Popovich would almost certainly elevate the Spurs to an exciting playoff team in short order.
Wemby has spoken about wanting to win a championship as soon as possible, and this may be the best way to accelerate that timeline.
Lillard still has two years and $94.4 million left on his current contract, and he signed a max extension that will pay him about $59 million in 2025-26 and $63 million the following year, when he'll be 36. Unlike Bradley Beal, who was traded for pennies on the dollar earlier this offseason, Dame does not have a no-trade clause.
The Spurs also don't need to get Damian Lillard to extract value from the impending Lillard trade. If he ends up going to Miami, the Heat will likely need to part with veterans who the Blazers may not have a use for as they enter a full rebuild. That spells a three-team trade, and the Spurs still have a bunch of cap space to help facilitate that.