Trail Blazers GM Exercising Patience In Trading Star Damian Lillard

Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin isn’t in a hurry to trade star guard Damian Lillard.

Despite Lillard making it known he wants out of Portland by requesting a trade on July 1, Cronin is ready to drag things out as he searches for the best return package for the seven-time All-Star.

“I think what I’ve learned more than anything is patience is critical,” Cronin told reporters from Las Vegas on Monday afternoon, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “Don’t be reactive. Don’t jump at things just to seemingly solve a problem. I think the teams that have ended up in the most positive situations post-trade have been the ones that have been really diligent in taking their time and not been impulsive, or the teams that really kept their urgency under control.

“So I think that’s how my approach has been with this and will be with this. We’re going to be patient; we’re going to do what’s best for our team. We’re going to see how this lands. And if it takes months, it takes months.”

Cronin also told reporters that he hasn’t spoken to Lillard since the trade request. Lillard and his representatives have made it known that getting traded to the Miami Heat is his preferred destination.

But while Cronin is open to trading Lillard — he also stated he hopes Lillard has a change of heart and wants to stay in Portland — he isn’t willing to give into all his demands and just send him to Miami for pennies on the dollar.

“What the rest of his career looks like matters to us, and we care about that,” Cronin said, per Bontemps. “At the same time, we have to do what’s best for us and we’ve got to find the right deal and find the right makeup of the team that we’re going to go forward with.

“So you hope that you can find that perfect situation where that lines up and he goes to a place that he wants to and you get the best return possible. It’s complicated, and usually it doesn’t work out just like that.”

It’s unclear if Cronin exercising extreme patience when it comes to Lillard aids any chance the Celtics may have at obtaining the star guard. The Celtics reportedly called the Trail Blazers about Lillard after the trade request.

It still seems unlikely the Celtics land Lillard. The Trail Blazers would in all probability want a star in return like Jaylen Brown, who reportedly is getting closer to inking a supermax extension with Boston. However, NBA reporter Chris Mannix did throw out a scenario in which the Celtics might be able to get Lillard without giving up Brown.

But the longer this plays out, the more of an opportunity the Celtics might have to entice the Trail Blazers into a deal.