Inside the Damian Lillard Trade: Blazers, Bucks, Heat, Raptors

Everyone had been waiting all summer for a Damian Lillard trade. And if not everyone, at least the teams that were in pursuit of the former Trail Blazers star, now a member of the Bucks.

Here is the latest on who sought what and how it went down from several reporters and their respective news outlets:

• The Raptors spoke with the Blazers on a Lillard trade but didn’t want to include Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby or Scottie Barnes, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.
• The Heat were believed to be Lillard’s preferred destination and were willing to offer guard Tyler Herro, forward Nikola Jovic, three first-round picks, first-round pick swaps, and multiple second-rounders in exchange for Lillard, per Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic. Portland had no interest.
• So that right there was a case of Blazers GM Joe Cronin not allowing an agent — in this case, Lillard’s Aaron Goodwin — tell him how to do his job.
• League sources have told Hoops Wire that Goodwin may have actually hurt Lillard’s chances of getting traded to the Heat by being so vocal about it. He stopped once the NBA stepped in and sent a memo to teams.
• During the Blazers’ first trade call with the Heat, Cronin asked for Miami stars Jimmy Butler or Bam Adebayo in exchange for Lillard, per Charania and Amick. So Portland was setting the bar very high right away.
• Lillard changed his stance on the Heat after it was clear that trade talks were going nowhere, expanding his “wish list” to the Bucks and Nets, per Marc J. Spears of ESPN.
• While Lillard and Goodwin came under plenty of fire for demanding a trade specifically to the Heat, Goodwin did tell Cronin that Lillard would report to camp and be “fully present” if the Blazers failed to reach a deal beforehand, per Charania and Amick. But Cronin was hopeful of getting the trade done before next week to avoid distractions.
• Cronin stopped responding to Goodwin entirely earlier this month, leading the agent to start exploring other possibilities that might appeal to Lillard, Charania and Amick noted. It seems Lillard was only dead-set against going to Toronto.