What value does Dame have? He's coming off of surgery, off of his worst season, and his age isn't on his side. Nobody is going to give up anything of comparable value for Dame right now.
I doubt that. Dude was on fire in the playoffs last year. He got hurt. Everyone knows he got hurt. He's healthy now. I wouldn't be worried about his value.
I just wonder at what point do players begin to be more of a problem due to the salary they command than positive effect they have on the floor for the team. Damian Lillard will be making an awful lot of money in the next 3-4 years?
you have to look at that list closely. 1st glance it looks like Dame is owed the 8th most money. But that list doesn't count the player options. At 17 & 18 PG13 and Kawhi make exactly the same amount as Dame. Jimmy Butler is owed 43M more than Dame. Rudy Gobert is owed 30M more Dame's salary is high, but if what wer are talking about is a 7-10M differential thru the top 20-30 players it's not and egregious amount more. And every off-season, more players sign huge contracts, meaning that relative to the rest of the elite players, Dame is not grossly overpaid
Trick question. With the current ownership/front office neither is possible. I have to admit, I have been blindly assuming we will be getting a new regime that is willing and able to put a contender on the court. If the current group is going to be around for the next 5 years or more, we might as well argue over whether unicorn horns have a clockwise or counter-clockwise spiral! Maybe what we should be asking is when/if the team will be sold.
There is only one way to get comparable value for a player like Dame: get multiple 1st rd picks and have a front office competent enough to take advantage of them. You will never get equal short-term value in return - you have to find a team willing to give long-term value for current value.
We're not going to get a proven front office for at least another year or two (after the team sells, or Cronin proves many people wrong). So trading Dame right now has a very low probability of success.
Where was it reported that the Blazer will be sold in the next few years? I must have missed that. Reliable source, I hope. The profit owners make, may exceed what they can do otherwise? Even if expansion happens the league splits billions.
The real trouble starts when an owner realizes they can lose every game and still make a profit. The current Blazer ownership is not tanking. Tanking is sacrificing the short term to get better in the long term. This appears to be something very different. They are tearing down without actually having a plan to rebuild.
Additionally as opposed to the Suns guys, Ant and Dame are not complimentary talents to each other. They are more the blueprint of CJ & Dame or Curry & Ellis... STOMP
STOMP! In the name of love, before you break our hearts. Dame is a generational talent. Ant ( though unproven, looks to have potential star ability). So until we see them play together, we won't know what their ceiling as a duo is. I know this much, a healthy Dame will be a lethal Dame. Now if Ant can continue to build on the promise he showed before he was shut down, the Blazers will have an incredible force to be reckoned with. I'm choosing to look on the brighter side, because i'm too old to let all the negative Nancy's bring me down.
Blazers should tank from the beginning next year. We need to make sure we are in the bottom 3, a 14% chance at Wembanyama is worth it.
High likelihood of truth there, although I personally haven't seen enough of Ant to be sure. I dislike that we shut him down for the season right when we need to make a decision about how much he's worth going forward.
Lillard, Simons, Nurkic Hart, Little, Ingles These are the guys with enough track record IMHO for me to list as next year’s Blazers. Players I can see on a contender (even a marginal one). Others have performed during the tank and earned smaller, longer contracts suggesting they’re ballers good enough to keep or trade in bench roles. I’m not sold on any of the young bench guys, yet. Little and Ingles can play some 2 but fit better at 3. Is Little a starter? Is he projectable as being in the top 15 of SFs (aka, Quality Starter). If not, then an upgrade is likely needed to contend … and that clock is ticking. Back-up 5 — free agent … doable. Quality starter at 4 — the draft is the hope. If BPA is at the 3, then trade Little (plus?) for Grant (at the 4) if that’s what it takes. Keep Ingles and bench guys to bring the rookie along at 3. I’m not suggesting what is ideal — just practical — since Dame (according to ALL signs) is staying put. The “merely starters” at Forward for the Blazers needs to end. Easy Ed, Chief, Mo, Nance, RoCo, Hoodie, ET. The NBA skills each had didn’t cover for what was lacking. I liked them all for various reasons, but they weren’t the answer. Maybe there wasn’t one at each instance. [I honestly don’t know.]
