Damian Lillard trade can take months, says Blazers GM Joe Cronin / News - Basketnews.com

Blazers GM Joe Cronin says if the Damian Lillard trade takes months, it takes months.

Credit: AP/Scanpix Credit AP/Scanpix

Damian Lillard wants to be traded to the Miami Heat. The Portland Trail Blazers know this yet haven't abandoned hope that the seven-time All-Star changes his mind.

And whether he does or not, the Blazers insist that they're in no hurry.

General manager Joe Cronin, at the news conference where the team formally unveiled its new five-year, $160 million contract with Jerami Grant, spoke at length about the impasse with Lillard.

He offered no specifics on talks -- not negotiating publicly -- and revealed that he hasn't spoken with Lillard since the franchise cornerstone asked to be traded.

"We're going to be patient," Cronin said. "We're going to do what's best for our team. We're going to see, you know, how this lands. And if it takes months, it takes months."

Lillard's trade request became publicly known on July 1, the first full day of free agency in the NBA.

After the Blazers revealed that Lillard asked out, agent Aaron Goodwin confirmed days later that the seven-time All-NBA selection wants to go to Miami.

"What the rest of his career looks like matters to us, and we care about that," Cronin said. "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."

And although Cronin has repeatedly said both that he wants to do right by Lillard and that he won't be rushed into making a bad deal, he also said that the goal has always been for Lillard to finish his career where it started -- and that he still holds out hope that could happen.

"I haven't lost hope, just because I understand this league is complicated and things change very quickly," Cronin said. "Sometimes we gain more information. Sometimes things aren't what we thought they were, and it's just something that, in this league, we constantly have to stay nimble and adjust to changing circumstances, and I view it like that.

"I don't know what the future holds. I don't know what will end up happening here. I just know that I won't be surprised if something different happens than we were originally expecting."

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