According To Shams, Damian Lillard Will Reportedly Not Show Up To Training Camp If He's Traded Anywhere Other Than The Heat
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Honest question. Was I dreaming or did Damian Lillard spend over a decade telling anyone who would listen how he would never, ever, ever run from the grind? That no matter what, he would be a Blazer for life? I feel like that happened, but now I'm starting to wonder if I just made it all up because everything that has transpired this summer when it comes to Dame is basically the exact opposite of the player I was under the impression he was.
Now I get it, things in the NBA move fast. People say things at one time during their tenure and eventually change their tune. If Dame wants to go to a different situation, OK. Personally, I feel like that could have been taken care of by not signing his max extension, but in today's NBA the stars get to have their cake and eat it too, so that part isn't that surprising.
But this? First, demanding a trade to only one specific team that doesn't exactly have a ton of assets worth trading a franchise player for, and now this report from Shams that suggests unless Dame doesn't get what he wants he won't even show up? Soft. Incredibly soft. Also, what happened to this memo?
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Is that not exactly what is happening here?
"Don't even bother trading for Dame, he's not going to report to your camp if you do"
Unless Shams is completely making this up (seems like a stretch) I feel like this is most likely coming from someone within Dame's camp. Woj has been the Blazers' mouthpiece and Shams has been the Dame/MIA's side so far during this whole ordeal, so I can't imagine this simply came out of thin air.
Last time I checked Kawhi Leonard didn't want to be traded to the Raptors, and you know what he did?
He got his chip and then immediately bounced to where he wanted to be, as was his right.
Dame, however, still has 3+1 on his current deal. He, by the very definition, does not control where he plays. He gave that up for that extra 2/121M. If he wanted to choose his location, he could have entered free agency. For all we know there are going to be teams that may decide to not even engage with the Blazers in fear that Dame won't report. Whatever market there may have been at this point of the summer, Dame is basically doing his best to finally kill it to the point where MIA is the only option left. Unless POR decides to punch back and just keeps Dame on the roster out of spite, their hands are kind of tied.
Which is why ultimately my take is the same on September 11th as it was when Dame initially demanded this trade back in July. He's going to end up in MIA, just accept it. I don't care how many times the Blazers say they aren't interested in the package. This is simply how the NBA works, so why would it be any different for Dame? Stars get what stars want. Now that they have Shams throwing out the possibility of Dame holding out and not showing up, that will most likely be enough to get this over the finish line before camp opens in about 3 weeks.
That still doesn't make it an incredibly soft move from Dame. All that talk about never running from the grind and in reality, he's sprinting away from it by any means necessary.