Milwaukee Bucks news: To say that Damian Lillard had a long drawn-out trade saga with the Portland Trail Blazers would be a complete understatement. Eventually, the seven-time All-Star ended up with the Bucks via a blockbuster deal that saw Jrue Holiday, among others, move in the opposite direction in what turned out to be a massive three-team trade.
Lillard hasn’t kept it a secret that the Miami Heat was his first choice. The Blazers’ front office, however, made sure this wasn’t going to happen.
Milwaukee Bucks’ Damian Lillard Gave Up on Miami Move
Multiple reports suggested that Portland general manager Joe Cronin went out of his way to make sure that Lillard wasn’t going to land with the Heat. In fact, at one point, Cronin even stopped communicating with Dame’s sports agent, Aaron Goodwin, who himself did all he could to get his client to South Beach.
Lillard admits that all this was what made his drama-filled summer almost unbearable:
“It was anything to go against what I would have wanted,” Lillard told Sam Amick of The Athletic, “That part was irritating. Just based off how it was happening, I knew (it wouldn’t be Miami).
“(The Blazers) hadn’t talked to Miami. So once it started happening like that, then I started hearing about all these other random teams, I was like, ‘I’m probably not going to Miami.’ So I wasn’t holding on to that too (much).”
You have to give credit to Lillard for remaining professional throughout his ordeal. For one, he didn’t pull a James Harden.
Dame was even willing to report to Portland’s training camp as the team negotiated his deal — an idea that Cronin himself rejected.
It’s just sad to see Lillard’s tenure with the Blazers come to an end the way that it did. He did so much for the organization during his 11 years in Portland and you would think that they would have done good by him.
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