NBA Rumors: Damian Lillard, Blazers Not Having Contract Extension Talks?

The Portland Trail Blazers have entered the market for a new General Manager. After firing their longtime President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey, the Blazers named Olshey's assistant Joe Cronin the interim General Manager.

While Cronin is expected to get a fair shake at potentially earning the job long-term, the Blazers will still consider out-of-market candidates to replace Olshey. 

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, those candidates who will earn an opportunity to take on the job are hearing from Lillard and his camp as they attempt to get the next Blazers' GM to sell Portland's ownership on the idea of inking Lillard to a significant two-year extension.

"Lillard wants a two-year, $107 million extension in July," Wojnarowski wrote on Tuesday. "He and his agent need the next general manager to sell ownership on the idea. As much as anything, this cuts to the core of the Blazers' search process. His desire for an extension into his advanced NBA years has turned into a battle for the franchise's future, an existential threat to reshaping and redirecting the organization in a post-playoff reality."

As rumors regarding Lillard's desire to be extended this summer started to surface, a conflicting report followed. According to Sports Illustrated senior writer Chris Mannix, Lillard's camp denies not only the report that they are currently seeking a contract extension as soon as this summer -- but they also denied Shams Charania and Sam Amick's report that Lillard would like to team up with Sixers guard Ben Simmons.

"There has been some reporting over the last couple of days about Damian Lillard interest in playing with Ben Simmons, about his interest in a long-term extension with the team. For whatever it’s worth… From Lillard side, I’m told, none of that’s true, that Lillard has not expressed any interest in acquiring Ben Simmons and that since he’s not eligible for a max extension, yet, there haven’t been those discussions either." via The Crossover Show

In addition to Mannix's report, Lillard also responded to a fan's tweet in agreeance, which claimed that the ESPN report included information from Portland's now-former President of Basketball Operations to allegedly "slander" the Blazers guard.

This isn't the first time Lillard subliminally called out reporters via Twitter following Olshey's firing. On Monday, Lillard tweeted out that everybody "loves drama too much," following a report that was published stating he's been growing frustrated with the Blazers' organization lately. While he hasn't spoken about all the reports in-depth, Lillard continues to deny rumors as they keep on coming.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.