Damian Lillard has been among the names rumored to be a target of the Los Angeles Lakers after the franchise missed out on Paul George and DeMarcus Cousins as a potential sidekick to LeBron James.

According to what ESPN’s Steven A. Smith (via Thomas Duffy of Bycycle) said on his radio show, the Portland Trail Blazers floor general could also be traded to the Knicks, who have been in search of a true star at the position.

Lillard has always had a loyalist position, determined to make the most of his time with the team that drafted him, while reserving his judgment to those who choose to find friends to play next to, amid the fad of the making of superteams.

Though the Blazers could decide to swing a deal after the core of this roster hasn’t proved to show much in the postseason, recently getting swept out of the first round by a DeMarcus-Cousins-less New Orleans Pelicans.

The Lakers just signed Rajon Rondo to a one-year, $9 million deal, likely to mentor and compete with injured point guard Lonzo Ball. Signing Lillard would surely involve parting ways with Ball, who has vastly underperformed during his first year in the league.

The Knicks have looked for answers on rookie Frank Ntilikina and midseason addition Emmanuel Mudiay, but gotten very little answers from either of them, as Trey Burke has looked like the most capable at the position.

Starting Lillard would surely give Kristaps Porzingis a working star partner, but the Knicks have been freeing up cap space to set themselves up for the 2019 offseason, making this potential acquisition a lot less likely.

or would you rather wait to see what Irving does, or how burke plays?

This is Frankie's team now.

dwiley20 wrote:2 future 1 rounders Frank, Thardaway Jr, And Knox

ban

Nalod wrote:What it take?
What would the team look like after a trade for him?

Why does this sound vaguely familiar??

Nalod wrote:What it take?
What would the team look like after a trade for him?

Zinger, and taking one of their bad contracts ( Evan Turner most likely) Problem is the Knicks don't really have contracts that will match up that the Trailblazers either want or will tolerate. Kanter would go, just for matching purposes.

Lillard is an established player and fun to watch.

Would I trade Zinger for Lillard ( assuming a salary match somehow could be found...)? Yes.

I'm not confident Zinger will stay long term. Also not too sure about his long term health. Lillard is very durable and projectible and has established what he can and cannot do.

I'd say a potential deal would need to include:

- 1 or 2 future unprotected first round picks
- Frank Ntilikina
- Kevin Knox
- Joakim Noah to balance salaries. The reason I've included him is because he wouldn't hurt their chances to tank, but this could easily be Tim Hardaway.

Would I do a deal like this?

Probably not because we aren't one piece away from contention. I would rather stay the course and wait for 2019 free agency because we'll have point guards like Kyrie Irving and Kemba Walker to target, or veteran options like Jeff Teague and Goran Dragic. If we are happy with Frank at the point we can go after Klay Thompson or Jimmy Butler to play SG. Or we could target bigs like Kevin Love, Paul Millsap, Al Hoford or Marc Gasol to pair with KP in the front court. By going down this route we retain our existing young players and assets, will likely add another lottery pick in 2019, and be pretty well set going into the 19/20 season. Ideally we'll add at least one big name free agent, but if we could add two that would see us make a huge jump. But even if we head into next season without a big name, we'll still have a young quartet or quintet to go forwards with in Frank, Knox, KP, Robinson and the 2019 pick.

The only time I would make a trade for a proven veteran is if they are on an expiring contract and we are getting them for a bargain price. So if coming up to the deadline the T-Wolves want to dump Butler and will take Lance Thomas and Courtney Lee or Tim Hardaway, maybe a future lottery protected pick, then I could understand us making that deal if we got assurances that Butler would extend with us. At that point we would have his bird rights and could extend him and go over the cap, while using cap space to sign a big name 2019 free agent. Having a proven veteran would help our cause in 2019 so as long as we don't have to give up anything significant we could go down that route later in the season before the trade deadline. But I wouldn't be going after long term contract veterans like Lillard because they are too costly.

knicks1248 wrote:I don't have a lot faith in us nabbing an All star if we finish the season with 25 to 30 wins. We just seen this movie play out 3 yrs ago when the only guys we got we're lee, over paid for NOAH, kOQ, and dwill, and we had enough to sign a max player,which none came calling.

We need 2 or 3 All stars to contend, and you need all stars to attract other all stars. Our young players have to play at the level the Celtics and Sixers youngsters played at..

who says we need to contend right now...we are finally building the right away. Pretty sure that Perry and Mills and Fizdale are not interested in shortchanging youth development by trading away assets. If no one joins from FA class of 2019, then FO will be content to let youngsters develop for another year. I do expect this team to be very competitive in the 2020-2021 season regardless of who signs in summer 2020. By then, our team would have matured enough to be like the young Celtics team we see today. That in itself would attract stars.

It's not like the Celtics team had all-stars in their lineup when Kyrie requested to be traded and was ok with going to Celtics. At least we have one bonafide one in KP, the others will develop.