In a recent interview with The Last Stand podcast, Blazers superstar Damian Lillard
discussed his preferred destinations if he were to be traded. The two teams he named were the Miami Heat and the Brooklyn Nets. Given that Damian Lillard attended Game 3 of Nets vs. Sixers in the playoffs, this further supports the theory that Lillard wants to become a Net.
From a basketball perspective, it makes a lot of sense. The Nets have a treasure chest of assets from the Durant &; Irving trades that took place during the 2023 trade deadline: a multitude of first-round picks, high-quality role players such as Royce O’Neale, Dorian Finney-Smith, Nic Claxton, as well as young assets such as Cam Thomas and DayRon Sharpe. If the Blazers were to rebuild, the Nets would have the draft picks to compensate them in exchange for Damian Lillard, and the star point guard would be able to compete alongside his close friend Mikal Bridges.
However, despite many Brooklyn fans salivating at the idea of trading for Lillard, myself
alongside a faction of fellow Nets fans believe trading for Lillard would be a franchise-altering mistake. Despite Lillard having a career year in Portland last season, averaging a career-high 32.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 7.3 assists on 46/37/91 shooting splits, Lillard is a ticking time bomb.
Turning 33 in July, he’s an aging superstar who only has one or two years of competitive
basketball left in him. While I strongly believe he’ll always have his skills, such as his shooting and playmaking, the question is his health. Lillard has played 87 out of 164 games in the last two seasons (53%), and with him getting older, that does not bode well for his availability. Lillard can easily average 30+ points per game over the next three or four years. However, similar to former Nets superstar Kevin Durant, how many games can he play while maintaining those averages?
In addition, the Nets wouldn’t be adding Lillard to the roster straight up. The Blazers
would demand a high price for their franchise’s greatest player, so much so that it would entirely defeat the purpose of trading for Lillard. The point of trading for Lillard is to contend for a championship. However, if the Nets have to trade four unprotected firsts + Claxton + Thomas + Finney-Smith, it will leave serious depth problems for the Nets, similar to when the Nets had Durant &; Irving. As shown with the Harden trade, when you trade everything for one player, you create massive weaknesses on your roster that you are unable to alleviate due to your lack of cap space and lack of draft picks to acquire quality role players.
The Nets trading all of their assets for Lillard could easily backfire if he were to sustain
an injury, and if the Nets don’t win a championship, they’ll be stuck paying him $58M in 2025-26 and $63M in 2026-27. It could quickly turn into a James Harden situation, where Harden strained his hamstring and was never the same afterward. Or, it could become a Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett situation, which would result in another team getting unprotected lottery picks for several years, resulting in the Celtics receiving Jayson Tatum & Jaylen Brown (Tatum via a trade with Philly involving the Nets ' first-round pick).
Recently, Brooklyn Buzz’s Nick Fay made a brilliant mock trade involving a scenario
where the Nets would get Dame in exchange for assets that would not hurt the Nets in the long term while still maintaining a roster that would be competitive around Damian Lillard. If such a trade were possible, then I would advocate for a Lillard trade to Brooklyn. However, if theBlazers demand a similar trade package that Kevin Durant or Rudy Gobert commanded, then I believe it would be in the Nets best interest to hang up the phone.
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