Now that the saga Damian Lillard is over, the leader having joined Milwaukee, The Athletic retraces these few weeks during which the All-Star tried to force his transfer to Miami.
Damian Lillard and his agent, Aaron Goodwin, quickly understood that Joe Cronin, the GM of Portland, did not really intend to help his “franchise player” join Florida. During the first discussions with Pat Riley, he bluntly asked Jimmy Butler Or Bam Adebayo as a counterpart! Above all, a way to make it clear that he would not sell out Damian Lillard, and that there was no question of negotiating at a discount.
Throughout the summer, the Heat felt that Portland was not really interested in its offer, namely three first rounds of the Draft, Nikola Jovic and expiring contracts, Tyler Herro having to take charge of a third team because the Blazers were not interested in his profile.
As training camp approached, Damian Lillard and those close to him felt that they could no longer limit their options in Miami, as the situation got bogged down. Aaron Goodwin has thus begun to explore other avenues, the leader now saying he is ready to join the Nets or the Bucks. Giannis Antetokounmpo being a fan of his game, things were able to unblock, the Suns waiting in the shadows to get their hands on Jusuf Nurkic.
According to The Athletic, the Nurkic/Ayton exchange had already been in place since mid-July, with Phoenix simply waiting to know who was going to get their hands on Damian Lillard to slip into the triangle transfer.
