Getty Dame Lillard could be using the Lakers as leverage.
The rumors linking Damian Lillard to the Los Angeles Lakers do not seem to be going away, and the buzz around the NBA is that the Portland Trail Blazers along with the team’s superstar are to blame. Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes created quite a stir by revealing that Lillard met with LeBron James and Anthony Davis in Los Angeles during the offseason.
The All-Stars discussed potentially creating new “big three” with the Lakers. The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor noted that there is a growing belief around the NBA that it was Lillard along with the Blazers who strategically leaked the story about the meeting with the two Lakers stars.
“I’ve talked to people around the league about, from a strategic point of view, what’s happening here,” O’Connor detailed on the November 5 episode of The Mismatch podcast. “He goes from making these vague comments about, ‘yeah, I don’t know how long I’ll be here’ weeks before the season to suddenly ‘I’m all in.’ And there are front office executives around the league who think this is a strategic choice by the Blazers, Dame’s group and all that in order to create leverage for the organization because right now around the league teams just want Dame.
“They don’t want C.J. McCollum. They don’t want Jusuf Nurkić. They’re like we’re going to wait for Dame to demand a trade, especially the Philadelphia 76ers. Like [Sixers general manager Daryl Morey] is still all about waiting for Dame. In the eyes of some executives around the league, this is about creating leverage for the Blazers in order to make a move that can help the team with Damian Lillard on it.
“By committing and showing that you’re all in, in every single facet over the course of time, that diminishes or could diminish they hope, the desire from other teams to go for Damian Lillard and instead say, ‘okay, we’ll take C.J. McCollum. Okay, we’ll take this guy or that guy.’
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O’Connor on Lakers Rumors: ‘It’s a Dame Leak’
The Ringer’s Chris Vernon countered by saying, “this was a Dame leak.” O’Connor clarified that there is buzz that Lillard is leaking the rumors to create leverage for the Blazers to find him additional help. Essentially, Lillard could be using the Lakers as leverage to help the Blazers pull off a trade for more players.
“That’s what I’m saying, it’s a Dame leak,” O’Connor added. “There are people around the league who think it’s all coordinated in the sense that we want these things out there in order to gain leverage for the Blazers because he does want to stay.”
Dame to LeBron on Potential Move to Lakers: ‘I Know It Would Work Out’
Haynes reported on November 3 that Lillard met with James and Davis over the summer while he was in Los Angeles shooting a music video. Lillard originally arranged to meet with James but Davis was sitting at the table as well when the Blazers guard arrived at the star’s Brentwood estate.
“’Bron asked what I was thinking with my situation, and I told him what I’m telling you: that I just want to be in a position to win it all,” Lillard explained to Haynes. “He painted the picture to me that if I were to leave, the situation could look like this. He didn’t tell me to come to L.A., and he didn’t say anything to me that I didn’t already know other than what it could look like. I told him, ‘I know if I were to play with y’all, I know it would work out because of my skill set,’ and who I am and who they are.”
Ultimately, Lillard made the decision not to push for a trade to the Lakers or any other team. If both the Lakers and Blazers continue to struggle, we can expect the rumors to heat up once again.