NBA Trade Rumors: Blazers PG Damian Lillard to Magic?
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ORLANDO - There's a lot of uncertainty surrounding Damian Lillard's future with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Portland missed the playoffs for a second consecutive year despite Lillard posting his best statistical season at age 32. Lillard has openly stated that he wants the Blazers, who hold the No. 3 pick in the NBA Draft, to try and surround him with veteran talent to compete for a championship. And while the Blazers have tried, they ultimately come up short.
This means that the Blazers should at least entertain the idea of starting fresh and ending the Lillard era. Portland and Lillard both want to make it work, but perhaps the All-Star point guard would prefer a trade to a place with greener grass ... like the Orlando Magic.
Bleacher Report suggested that Lillard is the most "ambitious" trade target in the Magic's market.
"Lillard's bonkers shot-making immediately vaults Orlando into a different stratosphere," Bleacher Report writes. "And if he's available, the Magic have the assets to get him. Whether they'll part with them is a different story."
The assets Portland would want in a trade for Lillard? Some combination of Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and the team's two lottery picks as starting blocks. Then, the Blazers would likely want a guard like Cole Anthony or Jalen Suggs to be an immediate placeholder for Lillard's absence.
It would take a king's ransom to acquire Lillard, and while the Blazers likely won't trade him, the Magic can't lose anything by simply inquiring about a move.
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