The Damian Lillard trade dilemma seems to have struck a nerve with Austin Rivers. Over the last couple of years, the NBA has witnessed several scenarios of players forcing their way out of situations that they don’t believe are favorable to them. This is mostly because the league has become more of a business rather than a platform for players to do what they love.
Similarly, Lillard has been trying to force his way out of the Portland Trail Blazers roster. The 7x All-Star believes that acquiring another star would sort out most of Portland’s issues. However, this isn’t the direction the Blazers are particular to adhere to. Portland has established that they want to utilize its young stars.
BREAKING: The Miami Heat have agreed to trade Tyler Herro for Damian Lillard.
The Portland Trail Blazers did not agree. pic.twitter.com/UbG4cwSCYv
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) July 17, 2023
Right now, Damian Lillard has set his sights on the Miami Heat. He has been determined to join the 2023 NBA Finalists as he could immediately make them the favorites to win a title next season. General Manager Joe Cronin has been offered several packages involving Tyler Herro and first-round picks. However, none of them have attracted his liking. Sources claim that other teams are slowly trying to involve themselves to facilitate a three-team trade.
Austin Rivers suggests Damian Lillard should settle with whatever he gets
Austin Rivers seems to have had enough of players forcing their way out of their teams. While stating his argument over the Lillard trade scenario, he dragged James Harden and Ben Simmons for doing the same in the past. He said, “Regardless of how good of a player you are, man, the NBA is a privilege. If you are a free agent, then you can choose where you wanna go, that’s the business. But when you’re not, and you sign a deal, man, that’s part of the business, bro. If you get traded somewhere, you gotta go play.”
“If you were a free agent, then you could choose where you were gonna go… This started with James [Harden] and Ben [Simmons] and all these guys doing this sh*t. It’s bad for the league.”
Austin Rivers on Damian Lillard’s trade demand
(via ringernba/TT)pic.twitter.com/IsBfRAlace
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) July 24, 2023
Austin Rivers added, “This started with James [Harden] and Ben [Simmons] and all these guys doing this sh*t… It’s bad for the league.” Back when Harden competed for the Houston Rockets, he forced a trade to the Brooklyn Nets to join Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Harden’s situation was more or less the same as Lillard’s. Houston barely made an effort to build a roster around James.
Ben Simmons on the other hand had issues within the locker room, which ultimately led to a trade to the Nets as well. Such instances put players like Austin Rivers in a tough spot. Rivers has been moved around the league several times in the past to facilitate blockbuster trades. Such players have to deal with shifting bases and relocating around the country as well.