The Trail Blazers need to convince Damian Lillard they can win next season. According to the latest NBA rumors, signing Draymond Green is the key.
According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, the Trail Blazers see signing Draymond Green as a key tool to prevent Damian Lillard from requesting a trade. This is something that might end up being required for the team to end up keeping Lillard but this is the latest development in a very weird saga.
This has been a wild for weeks for Lillard and the Blazers. Lillard has stated that he really doesn't want to leave the team and has given the Blazers multiple chances to get their act together. He said he wants to stay and wants to be on a competitive team, and made clear that trading the No. 3 pick was a way to do that in his opinion. But the Blazers decided to keep the third overall pick and select Scoot Henderson. After Portland made the pick, no trade request came from Lillard.
Do the Blazers have a shot at signing Draymond Green?
As we inch closer to the NBA free agency, it seems that Draymond Green will be in a Warriors' uniform next season, most likely, on a three-year deal that is close to the max. Still, if the right team were to offer him a full max, then he might reconsider. How the Blazers get to enough cap space to sign Draymond Green is a hurdle that the team will have to overcome.
They are currently operating as a team that is over the cap. They do want to move off multiple salaries including Jusuf Nurkic but that is easier said than actually done. However, Amick's article mentions that this is a primary goal for the Blazers right now, figuring out how to re-sign Jerami Grant AND add Green.
Check out The Step Back for more news, analysis, opinion and unique basketball coverage. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to our daily email newsletter, The Whiteboard.
