Building a 3-Team Blockbuster If Damian Lillard Requests Trade

As we inch ever closer to 2023 free agency in the NBA, the trade rumor mill is running in overdrive.

We've already seen Bradley Beal, Kristaps Porziņģis and Marcus Smart moved. Chris Paul has been traded twice. And after the Portland Trail Blazers drafted guard Scoot Henderson (instead of trading that pick for a win-now player), it feels like Damian Lillard may be the next domino to fall.

But to where? And how?

These megadeals involving stars are often more complicated than a straight-up swap (part of why I actually predict Lillard stays put). The 32-year-old is set to make over $45 million this season, but Portland may not want to take that kind of long-term salary back if it's rebooting.

In these situations, a third team with cap space and the ability to take on some risk has to be looped in. And right now, there just happens to be such a team out there.

Here's how a potential three-teamer to move Lillard might look.

The Trade

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Damian Lillard and Royce O'Neale

Before we jump into justifications for each of the individual teams involved, it helps to be able to see the entire deal at a glance.

So, behold...

Brooklyn Nets Receive: Damian Lillard and two 2024 second-round picks from the San Antonio Spurs

Portland Trail Blazers Receive: Doug McDermott, Cam Thomas, Day'Ron Sharpe, a 2025 first-round pick from Brooklyn (via Phoenix), a 2027 first-round pick from Brooklyn (via Philadelphia), a 2028 first-round pick from Brooklyn and a 2029 first-round pick from Brooklyn (via Dallas)

San Antonio Spurs Receive: Ben Simmons and Kevin Knox

And now, here's why each team can talk itself into this.

Trail Blazers Start Over

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Scoot Henderson

Trail Blazers Receive: Doug McDermott, Cam Thomas, Day'Ron Sharpe, a 2025 first-round pick from Brooklyn (via Phoenix), a 2027 first-round pick from Brooklyn (via Philadelphia), a 2028 first-round pick from Brooklyn and a 2029 first-round pick from Brooklyn (via Dallas)

Trail Blazers Lose: Damian Lillard and Kevin Knox

Portland is only going to entertain the full-fledged rebuild if Lillard asks to be traded.

General manager Joe Cronin has already expressed a desire to see Dame and Scoot Henderson play together:

But a roster with 6'2" Henderson, 6'2" Lillard and 6'3" Anfernee Simons doesn't make a ton of sense. And the Blazers' Dame-led teams have had to pull the plug and start tanking with weeks left in the season in back-to-back years.

Despite his gaudy individual numbers, another campaign with the seven-time All-Star leading the way would more than likely feel like spinning wheels.

If he and the organization come to that realization and Lillard asks to be traded, few teams can offer a haul of draft picks quite like the Brooklyn Nets.

That's what Portland should be most interested in acquiring, and trades from the last couple years involving James Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have given Brooklyn a lot of those assets.

A thorough rebuild also means the Blazers probably don't want the Ben Simmons money that the Nets have to unload to take on Lillard. Hence, the addition of the Spurs to this framework.

San Antonio has enough cap space to take on Simmons (more on why they'd do that later) and Doug McDermott's expiring contract as an avenue to flexibility for Portland.

The addition of 21-year-old Cam Thomas (who had four games with at least 43 points in 2022-23) and Day'Ron Sharpe, also 21, further sweetens the pot for the Blazers.

Spurs Take a Flier

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Joe Harris, Ben Simmons and Spencer Dinwiddie

San Antonio Spurs Receive: Ben Simmons and Kevin Knox

San Antonio Spurs Lose: Doug McDermott and two 2024 second-round picks

Simmons has become one of the game's biggest question marks over the last two seasons.

After making three straight All-Star teams from 2018-19 to 2020-21, he missed all of 2021-22 with a holdout and back injury. And he averaged just 26.3 minutes, 6.9 points, 6.1 assists and 6.3 rebounds in 42 games in 2022-23.

Beyond the numbers, Simmons' apparent fear of shooting has become the kind of flaw that can cripple his own team's offense when he's on the floor.

Few assets have ever been quite as distressed as this one.

But the 26-year-old's hefty contract (which pays him $37.9 million in 2023-24 and $40.3 million in 2024-25) only runs for two more seasons (or half of Victor Wembanyama's rookie deal). And if there's one organization and coaching staff that might be able to coax the old Simmons out of hiding, it's San Antonio and the one led by Gregg Popovich.

The All-Star version of Simmons, with his playmaking, vision and fast-break savvy would give Wembanyama tons of open looks. And if his defensive prowess also returns, he and the incoming French phenom would give the Spurs a potentially nightmarish frontline for opponents to deal with.

As for Kevin Knox's inclusion, he's here so each team gets something from both of the others. And at 23 years old, it's too early to give up on him. In a floor-spacing role around Simmons, Wembanyama and Keldon Johnson, he might finally be able to find his range.

And if all of this only costs the Spurs McDermott's expiring contract and a couple of second-rounders (San Antonio has three firsts in 2024), this almost feels like a no-brainer.

Nets Go All-In

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Damian Lillard

Brooklyn Nets Receive: Damian Lillard and two 2024 second-round picks from the San Antonio Spurs

Brooklyn Nets Lose: Ben Simmons, Cam Thomas, Day'Ron Sharpe, a 2025 first-round pick (via Phoenix), a 2027 first-round pick (via Philadelphia), a 2028 first-round pick and a 2029 first-round pick (via Dallas)

Brooklyn may be wary of NBA get-rich-quick-schemes after the Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving era went so poorly.

After moving both of them, the Nets have a chance to slow-play a more organic, stable team-building approach.

But the returns they got for those two (and Harden) also give them the option to be a realistic landing spot for Lillard. And they can offer him a far more competitive and versatile supporting cast than Portland has over the last two years.

With this deal, Brooklyn would still have Mikal Bridges (who averaged 26.1 points after being traded from Phoenix), Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, Royce O'Neale and the ability to match any offer sheet Cameron Johnson might sign.

That's a ton of shooting and switchability around Lillard. And Nic Claxton is a more explosive rim runner than Dame's center of the last several years, Jusuf Nurkić. That would give him the opportunity to run more pick-and-roll.

Adding Lillard to formula that made the Nets so intriguing after the Irving and Durant trades may not put them in the same tier as the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat right away, but it would move them closer.

And after the Denver Nuggets proved that two superstars and depth is good enough to win it all (can Bridges be that second star?), Brooklyn can justify this move.