Report: Damian Lillard Requests Trade, Spurs on List of Preferred Teams

[Crazymaddopeyo]

Some Spurs fans : "Lillard is too old! He'll be 33!"

If Wemby is who people think him to be, a truly generational player, the best in 20 years, maybe the best ever, then he's ready to try and win the le with this year, next year, every year.

Most people who think him to be that guy also say it'll take at least 3 years for him to be ready to compete for a championship. That puts Dame at 36 who won't be anywhere near what he's like now. I haven't heard anyone say he'll be ready to compete for a championship right out. That rarely happens, not even Lebron did that.

[R. DeMurre]

If Wemby is who everyone thinks he is then the Spurs will be compe ive whether anyone likes it or not.

I'm confident they'll surprise people, like in the first 7 game this past year but over a whole season. The biggest thing holding them back is the lack of a good point guard / on ball creator. That is probably the easiest way to lose is by having bad point play.

If Vassell gets an extension anything like the current payscales going around the Spurs might never have enough cap room to add a top 15 point guard via free agency for the rest of Wemby's career. VanVleet wasn't a top 10 pg in my eyes and ... still has an estimated 1st year salary of 40.8!

That's if there's even any one to sign. The top 3 UFA points next year are dejounte, Conley and Lowry. Plus 35 year old DeMar if he counts. In 2025 they'll be Ben Simmons, Jamal Murray (good luck), 31 year old Derrick White and 35 year old non shooting Jrue.

I was not a fan of signing FVV before free agency because of the reasons people don't like a Lillard deal: doesn't fit with the plan, age not in the same timeline ... So why do I think differently for someone even older who would cost assets beyond just capspace? Because Lillard is that much better. He's so good that he can be worth it, if he wanted to play for SA of course.

High risk yet high reward . I don't expect it to happen and won't be heartbroken when it doesn't. Just an entertaining thought experiment.

Jrue Holiday's career 3pt% is 36.6% and last season he shot 38.4%. Lillard's career 3pt% is 37.2% and last season he shot 37.1%. If anything, Jrue is a much better comp for Lillard than someone like Steph is, with his career 42.8% mark. Granted, Lillard takes more attempts, but calling Jrue a non-shooter doesn't ring true to me, and I think the fatal flaw in scouting Lillard is to think that he's analogous to Steph in terms of bending the defense with his gravity. Steph is to Lillard what Lillard is to someone shooting under 32%. Huge difference.

[KobesAchilles]

, I might be willing to look at him prior to the trade deadline depending on how things flesh out. Not certain why everyone is in such a panic to use every draft pick and spend every dollar before summer league has even started.

What’s with this every draft pick nonsense? We have like 12 picks in the next 5 years and 20 SRPs. Nobody is suggesting 12 FRPs for Lillard. You are being obtuse.

We don’t have the roster space for all our picks anyway, might as well trade them. Or trade the player we are going to replace if we do make draft selections. That’s just common sense.

[Obstructed_View]

What’s with this every draft pick nonsense? We have like 12 picks in the next 5 years and 20 SRPs. Nobody is suggesting 12 FRPs for Lillard. You are being obtuse.

We don’t have the roster space for all our picks anyway, might as well trade them. Or trade the player we are going to replace if we do make draft selections. That’s just common sense.

You didn't see the tears that the Spurs traded away 33 instead of using it to pick the guy they got later?

[DPG21920]

I`ll take 2nd round, when Wemby is still 19.

Luckily sA doesn’t agree

[baseline bum]

Most people who think him to be that guy also say it'll take at least 3 years for him to be ready to compete for a championship. That puts Dame at 36 who won't be anywhere near what he's like now. I haven't heard anyone say he'll be ready to compete for a championship right out. That rarely happens, not even Lebron did that.

Don't know why people are acting like 19 year old Wemby is 1989 David Robinson. It made sense to trade for Terry mings and Mo Cheeks to put next to a 24 year old who was an MVP candidate the second he took the floor. If people want to go that 1989 route they should tell which of Jokic, Doncic, Antetokounmpo, Curry, or Embiid is Victor going to replace in the top 5 players in the league this coming season.

[Seventyniner]

Jrue Holiday's career 3pt% is 36.6% and last season he shot 38.4%. Lillard's career 3pt% is 37.2% and last season he shot 37.1%. If anything, Jrue is a much better comp for Lillard than someone like Steph is, with his career 42.8% mark. Granted, Lillard takes more attempts, but calling Jrue a non-shooter doesn't ring true to me, and I think the fatal flaw in scouting Lillard is to think that he's analogous to Steph in terms of bending the defense with his gravity. Steph is to Lillard what Lillard is to someone shooting under 32%. Huge difference.

I don't think this is a fair comparison. Dame's game is much more than just shooting threes. Jrue averaged between 2 and 3 free throw attempts per game in his time with Milwaukee, while Dame is consistently around 7 (albeit in a few more minutes per game) and was a ridiculous 9.6 last season.

The better metric to look at is true shooting percentage. Dame has been above 62% in 3 of the last 4 seasons, which is awesome for a high usage guard. Curry of course is better (~66%) but that doesn't mean Dame's number is bad. Jrue, by contrast, is around 59% with the Bucks, not far above last season's overall league average of 58.1%.

Dame has been really really good on offense 3 of the last 4 years. If the Spurs could assure themselves of getting that level of production for 3 of the next 4 years they shouldn't hesitate to give up Vassell and 4 firsts for him. Dame's age, though, makes that an iffy proposition.

Your point that Jrue should not be called a non-shooter is valid. However, Dame is closer to Curry than he is to Jrue, and the difference is due to free throws, not threes.

[KobesAchilles]

Luckily sA doesn’t agree

We don’t have the roster space for all of our picks. And in order to create said roster space, they have to trade the picks away or they have to trade the current players. We have almost zero chance at getting a top PG since the going rate for FVV is $43 million a year and Tre Jones will hamper Wemby if we keep him as the starter. We can’t even properly evaluate him when he is constantly getting doubled from Tre’s defender.

Financially, Lillard doesn’t cost us nearly as much as people are clamoring. You can’t have it both ways and say we have enough talent to surround Wemby with a contender already, then add an all nba player and say that we are killing our future. It makes zero sense since we can still sign our current players and having Lillard on our team doesn’t change that.

And lastly, Lillard isn’t going to fall off a cliff at age 37. They guy takes care of his body, works on his game, eats and trains correctly, and is all in as a professional. He won’t be a 30 ppg guy at age 37, but 20 and 6 seems very plausible. Heck Steph is 36 and he is playing great.

[rjv]

i get that we don't have the room for all of our picks but that doesn't mean we have to trade them now, for lillard. i'd rather wait for a bigger fish down the road.

[DPG21920]

We don’t have the roster space for all of our picks. And in order to create said roster space, they have to trade the picks away or they have to trade the current players. We have almost zero chance at getting a top PG since the going rate for FVV is $43 million a year and Tre Jones will hamper Wemby if we keep him as the starter. We can’t even properly evaluate him when he is constantly getting doubled from Tre’s defender.

Financially, Lillard doesn’t cost us nearly as much as people are clamoring. You can’t have it both ways and say we have enough talent to surround Wemby with a contender already, then add an all nba player and say that we are killing our future. It makes zero sense since we can still sign our current players and having Lillard on our team doesn’t change that.

And lastly, Lillard isn’t going to fall off a cliff at age 37. They guy takes care of his body, works on his game, eats and trains correctly, and is all in as a professional. He won’t be a 30 ppg guy at age 37, but 20 and 6 seems very plausible. Heck Steph is 36 and he is playing great.

It makes perfect sense. Like BOS or DEN spurs have the guys but they aren’t ready yet. Spurs aren’t in a rush nor should they be. I don’t care about the money. There’s always a FVV to get

I’d pay Dame 80m a year and want him if he was 27.

[TD 21]

le is misleading. His list is apparently the Heat and maybe the Nets.

The 76ers can put forth the best offer though, but it'll require threading the needle.

Offer Maxey (supposedly not available, yet they won't extend this off season to maximize cap space for '24, another weak class) to the Spurs for significant draft capital.

Then offer Harden for Powell, Morris Sr. and as much draft capital as they have available.

Finally, offer most (all?) of the draft capital + Harris for Lillard.

[baseline bum]

What’s with this every draft pick nonsense? We have like 12 picks in the next 5 years and 20 SRPs. Nobody is suggesting 12 FRPs for Lillard. You are being obtuse.

We don’t have the roster space for all our picks anyway, might as well trade them. Or trade the player we are going to replace if we do make draft selections. That’s just common sense.

I don't want to give up the team's best picks, eg the two unprotected Atlanta picks and the two pick swaps. Because those are going to be the most important assets to use to get another running mate for Victor. Don't want to blow those on a guy like Lillard that will be out of his prime in two years before Victor has even entered his. The Spurs cannot this hand up that they have right now because as much as Victor loves San Antonio currently, he'll walk just like LeBron did if the Spurs botch the build around him. Trading their best assets now for a guy about to turn 33 in a week and a half would be botching the build. If they can get Lillard for a steal like what Toronto got Kawhi for then yes I want Lillard. Like if they could get him for Keldon, the Chicago pick, and the Toronto pick then pull the ing trigger. Throw in the Charlotte pick if needed also. But not if getting Lillard gets in the way of another piece to put around Victor in his prime.

[R. DeMurre]

I don't think this is a fair comparison. Dame's game is much more than just shooting threes. Jrue averaged between 2 and 3 free throw attempts per game in his time with Milwaukee, while Dame is consistently around 7 (albeit in a few more minutes per game) and was a ridiculous 9.6 last season.

The better metric to look at is true shooting percentage. Dame has been above 62% in 3 of the last 4 seasons, which is awesome for a high usage guard. Curry of course is better (~66%) but that doesn't mean Dame's number is bad. Jrue, by contrast, is around 59% with the Bucks, not far above last season's overall league average of 58.1%.

Dame has been really really good on offense 3 of the last 4 years. If the Spurs could assure themselves of getting that level of production for 3 of the next 4 years they shouldn't hesitate to give up Vassell and 4 firsts for him. Dame's age, though, makes that an iffy proposition.

Your point that Jrue should not be called a non-shooter is valid. However, Dame is closer to Curry than he is to Jrue, and the difference is due to free throws, not threes.

Good points-- I'm a big advocate of TS% and I agree that Lillard overall is much more of an offensive weapon than Jrue, but Lillard's higher FT rate, higher aggression, and higher usage rate also coincided with a Portland team that finished 33-49, or 13th out of 15 teams, worse than every team in their conference except for two teams that were blatantly tanking, and in a season where parity was much higher than usual. Dame is also not nearly the defender Jrue is, and has been a net negative on that side for most of his career. There's no question he's a brilliant offensive player. I'm definitely not arguing against that.

[spurraider21]

le is misleading. His list is apparently the Heat and maybe the Nets.

The 76ers can put forth the best offer though, but it'll require threading the needle.

Offer Maxey (supposedly not available, yet they won't extend this off season to maximize cap space for '24, another weak class) to the Spurs for significant draft capital.

Then offer Harden for Powell, Morris Sr. and as much draft capital as they have available.

Finally, offer most (all?) of the draft capital + Harris for Lillard.

would you trade harden + maxey + whatever picks they have left for Dame? i wouldnt

[objective]

Jrue Holiday's career 3pt% is 36.6% and last season he shot 38.4%. Lillard's career 3pt% is 37.2% and last season he shot 37.1i%. If anything, Jrue is a much better comp for Lillard than someone like Steph is, with his career 42.8% mark. Granted, Lillard takes more attempts, but calling Jrue a non-shooter doesn't ring true to me, and I think the fatal flaw in scouting Lillard is to think that he's analogous to Steph in terms of bending the defense with his gravity. Steph is to Lillard what Lillard is to someone shooting under 32%. Huge difference.

My mistake I care more about the playoffs. Not that Dame was there the last 2 years but I was thinking of their last few appearances. Lillard gets up more attempts and a better %.

But it's fair to say I had some recency bias when Jrue's poor shooting bit with this past playoffs.

[Ariel]

would you trade harden + maxey + whatever picks they have left for Dame? i wouldnt

With Embiid aging and as injury prone as it is, if you think that gives you the best chances for a le you have to do it. Maxey is going to end up overpaid in a year anyway.

[TD 21]

would you trade harden + maxey + whatever picks they have left for Dame? i wouldnt

I hate the Clippers' potential offers for Harden and would only even consider them in a scenario where I'm also getting Lillard, if I'm the 76ers.

Not a fan of tunnel vision Powell, but he is a legitimately explosive/efficient off ball scorer, while Morris Sr., though post prime, is entering a contract season and at least replaces Harris' role.

This would keep Embiid engaged and arguably (if Lillard can maintain) give them a better chance at short term contention.

[Ocotillo]

Harden may not like the way things go moving forward for him. Ben Simmons wanted out and Morey took his time until he got what he wanted, ironically, Harden. My point, Morey ain't taking a bag of chips for the beard.

[The Truth #6]

There’s also a benefit of not trading for Dame so that some other team can further implode and take themselves out of contention, because I think that’s just as likely perhaps more likely than Dame going somewhere and leading them to the championship. I think he’s kinda overrated. What happened to the discomfort with short point guards?

[Leetonidas]

Harden may not like the way things go moving forward for him. Ben Simmons wanted out and Morey took his time until he got what he wanted, ironically, Harden. My point, Morey ain't taking a bag of chips for the beard.

Different situations though. At that time we didn't know Simmons was damaged goods and many thought he just needed a change of scenery. He was also under contract for 4 more seasons. Harden on the other hand is old, a known choker, and is on an expiring contract. Teams are not going to break the bank for someone who will be a FA in a year. I think the market for him is probably pretty limited too. I don't think Morey can afford to wait it out this time imo

[Brazil]

Don't Spurs already have good picks from previous trades?

first round picks are from Toronto and Charlotte so no guarantee of high picks, they also second rounders. if the idea is to pick an elite PG the road is a kinda soft tank

[Brazil]

Lillard at this price would make 0 sense, Spurs won't be contender next year with or without him neither pretender... best case scenario is a PO spot and a first round exit. Lillard is a short term solution (next 2 years), Spurs are clearly on mid term schedule, timing is just not ok

[Bruno]

The reason why Lillard wants to be traded is that he wants to be with a contender.

You can debate whether Lillard makes sense for Spurs, but Spurs make no sense for Lillard.

[Mnky]

Key point here.
We just don't know. He could be the next Kareem or the next Oden.

We need at least half a season to establish his actual ability and more importantly durability in the NBA.
And it's not like the rest of the roster is full of established players.
We need one season with no bs DNPs, everyone playing at their best, in order to properly evaluate the roster.

Most of us who are against trading for Lillard would have no issue in doing so if we were sure Wemby is the next big thing, but we're not.
What if he gets injured before we even figure out his potential? You're stuck with Lillard who's not going to sit out another season.

If Wemby has a Duncan-like rookie season, then by all means, go all in the next summer and get ready for contention.
I just think that trading for a 33 year old on a supermax that runs through 2027 isn't a good idea.
Might seem far fetched because Spurs were never a destination for big names, but just look at the state of the league.

Mavs completely ruined any chance to build around Luka and he doesn't seem to have Dirk's loyalty. He's gone within two years if this situation continues.
Memphis looked to be on their way to contention, but it turned out that Ja is an idiot. If he doesn't get his together this season, I can see some trade requests being made.
TWolves are always a trainwreck, can't see Edwards sticking around for long.
NOLA is also a joke, but we don't really want either of their stars.
Suns are stacked right now, but that roster is very close to their expiry date. Two seasons at the most and they're done. Who knows what happens with Booker after that.
Kings are good, but already at their limit because they can't add another star and neither Fox nor Sabonis are good enough as first options on a legit contender.
Hawks are close to imploding.
Celtics have a big decision to make with Brown's contract.
Cavs will have to get rid of Mitc or Garland (my personal favorite for Wemby's partner) because two small guards on a max, playing with no defense just can't work.
Bucks extended their window by a couple of seasons, but they'll be done in 2025 with no assets remaining. Giannis will still be young enough.
Sixers are in a horrible position. I'd say their window is closed and Embiid won't be there much longer, imo.

I didn't even include Warriors, Lakers or Clippers because they're just straight up old and don't have an all-star Spurs would want.
Denver is the only contending team in a really good long-term situation right now.

Biting on Lillard trade is something poorly ran organizations with no patience do.
He most defintiely doesn't even want to join and would play for the Spurs as a last resort option. Then we'd have to make a couple more trades because he won't come to fight for the play-in.

After nephew sabotaged everything, Spurs kept digging themselves even deeper for a couple of years with all those treadmill team trades.
They finally realized it's time to go and got incredibly lucky with Wemby. I'm sure they won't ruin it just because a 33 year old star asked out.
I honestly can't remember when was the last time NBA had so many contenders in questionable situation and uncertain long-term future.
I'd say that as soon as the next summer, Spurs will have at least a couple of opportunities to trade for any of the players I mentioned above. Players who are way closer to Wemby timeline than Lillard.
By then we'll know if Wemby is actually the real deal. If he is, then very few players won't have Spurs on their list of preferred trade destinations.
And not only that, but Spurs will have enough assets to make multiple trades. Just takes some patience.

Season can't start soon enough so everyone can forget all about these potential trades.

Good points. Like I said, you weight the the good and bad. If it's a steal of a deal and you can help Wemby develop while giving your team time to draft or find a legitimate PG for Wemby for a few years, why wouldn't you? People are making too much of the cost. You're going to lose first round picks period. Either players don't develop or you have too many bodies or cant afford new ones. Either way, your team is capped. Noone once said mortgage the future for lilliard. It's always been a, "if the price is right."

And like many have mentioned, his deal will run out almost the same age Curry is right now. One year later. There are plenty or pros to it as well which is why you explore it. Doesn't mean you commit to hurting the franchise long term as people keep suggesting.

I'm looking forward to the season as well. Hope the Spurs can get him some more veteran protection though. Kid is gonna have a huge target on him.

[SpursGenius]

I don't think this is a fair comparison. Dame's game is much more than just shooting threes. Jrue averaged between 2 and 3 free throw attempts per game in his time with Milwaukee, while Dame is consistently around 7 (albeit in a few more minutes per game) and was a ridiculous 9.6 last season.

The better metric to look at is true shooting percentage. Dame has been above 62% in 3 of the last 4 seasons, which is awesome for a high usage guard. Curry of course is better (~66%) but that doesn't mean Dame's number is bad. Jrue, by contrast, is around 59% with the Bucks, not far above last season's overall league average of 58.1%.

Dame has been really really good on offense 3 of the last 4 years. If the Spurs could assure themselves of getting that level of production for 3 of the next 4 years they shouldn't hesitate to give up Vassell and 4 firsts for him. Dame's age, though, makes that an iffy proposition.

Your point that Jrue should not be called a non-shooter is valid. However, Dame is closer to Curry than he is to Jrue, and the difference is due to free throws, not threes.

Is this Portland’s GM trying to rob spurs. ? I would give up only Toronto and charlotte protected first rounders. Maybe two seconds. Definitely not Vassell. KJ yes. People don’t understand that KJ metrics show he is the guy you unload not Vassell. Vassell is the better player.