NBA sent memo saying Lillard could face discipline for ‘Miami only’ trade demands

Damian Lillard wants to be traded to the Miami Heat. It’s about as big a secret as Pete Davidson’s dating life.

The NBA is not amused, however. Especially with the reports that Lillard’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, spoke to teams and told them his client only wants to play in Miami and might not bring a full effort/be disruptive if any other team stepped up and traded for him. The NBA investigated those claims and then sent a memo to Lillard, Goodwin, the player’s union, and all 30 teams, a story broken by Shams Charania of The Athletic. The memo says Lillard could be punished if he or his agent ever again say it’s Miami or bust, or if another team trades for Lillard and he does not give his best effort. Here’s the working of the memo, via Chris Haynes of TNT/Bleacher Report.

Here are a few thoughts here:

• The NBA is jumping in now?

• The focus of this memo is less Miami as a destination and more the idea Lillard would not bring his best effort if traded anywhere else. Lillard and Goodwin told the league that would not be the case, the memo makes that very clear.

• Goodwin absolutely told teams Lillard only wanted to go to Miami — he admitted it on record. (Wanting to go somewhere is different than saying Lillard would not play hard somewhere else.)

• This will not keep future players from using their leverage to force a trade to their preferred destinations. There are many ways to make that demand know that are not as public as how Goodwin and Lillard handled things. In the future, agents will use back channels, but teams will know where players want to go.

• I’m not sold, as some have speculated, this sets up the NBA to deny the trade if the sides figure out a deal. There would have to be more and a real smoking gun of evidence to get there.

• It is worth noting the NBA sent the memo to the NBPA and said it would apply to any future players saying they only wanted to be traded to one specific team. It feels like a shot across the bow of James Harden, who wants to be traded to the Clippers, and has a history of being disruptive if in training camp and unhappy (being disruptive in the 76ers camp, while they have his rights, is different than threatening to do that to a team that trades for a player).

• While the memo states Lillard agreed he would play for whatever team trades for him — giving Portland some cover to explore options other than Miami — none of that changes the underlying market that has dragged this process out:

There is not a long line of teams making good offers for Lillard.

Miami and its lowball offer is the best thing on the table right now (that offer improves and the talks get more serious once we get closer to training camp, there is no pressure to change in August). Trail Blazers fans can jump up and down and say, “half the league could make a better offer than Miami,” but that only matters if those teams put said offers forward. They have not. It’s not because of what Goodwin said, it’s because Lillard is 33 years old with four years and $216 million left on his contract. He doesn’t naturally fit with the roster or timeline of some teams with plenty of trade assets (for example Brooklyn, Utah or San Antonio). Lillard is the ultimate win-now player because while he is coming off an All-NBA season where he averaged 32.2 points per game, by the back end of the deal Llillard will be overpaid. Miami can live with that to chase a ring, most teams are not good with that plan.

Other teams are only tossing out lowball trade packages with Portland because they’d love to get Lillard in a steal but don’t want to pay full freight. So we are at a stalemate, one that likely lasts up to or even into the start of training camp (when a third team gets seriously involved).

Now that the NBA has weighed in, things will go smoothly.