Report: Blazers Got Trade Offers on Draft Night That Would've Appeased Damian Lillard

Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin had the ability to make trades prior to the 2023 NBA draft that would have led to Damian Lillard being content to stay with the franchise for the 2023-24 season.

Per Aaron Fentress of the Oregonian, the Blazers received offers leading up to and during the draft "that would have improved the team enough to please Lillard."

Cronin, according to Fentress, "made the decision to hold on to young assets rather than flip them for veteran talent" and some of the trades being offered would have "required sending the No. 3 pick, (Shaedon) Sharpe, Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic for one star."

Fentress noted Cronin believes Scoot Henderson, the No. 3 pick in the 2023 draft, to be a "transcendent" talent and deemed Sharpe "to be virtually untradeable."

Lillard made it clear at the end of the 2022-23 season he wasn't interested in the Blazers adding another young player who might not be able to impact winning for a few years.

"I don't have much of an appetite for bringing in guys two and three years away from really going after it. I think we get Shaedon at 19 and he's just different. Just being around him, his disposition, how he listens, his frame, his natural talent and his ability. I think, that's enough 19-year-olds. You probably won't find one that will come along the way he has. I'm just not interested in that.

"And this is not a secret. I want a chance to go for it. And if the route is to do that, then that's not my route. I think we're all in line with doing what we got to do to put a team together that we can actually go out there and get something done."

Cronin said that Portland's goal "is to get better as soon as possible." He echoed that sentiment on Saturday after he publicly confirmed Lillard's trade request.

When the Blazers won the No. 3 pick in the 2023 NBA draft during the lottery, there was speculation about what direction they might take in an attempt to satisfy Lillard's desire to compete for a playoff spot.

The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor noted on June 9 the Blazers had genuine interest in building around Lillard and were exploring deals involving the No. 3 pick and/or Simons.

In the wake of Portland using its selection to add Henderson, Cronin told reporters the team deemed the 19-year-old to be "the better player" than it could have gotten back in a trade.

Cronin also explained "value contracts are extremely beneficial for a roster" under the new collective bargaining agreement.

There remains no timetable for a Lillard trade. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Blazers governors intends to honor his request, but the front office is telling interested teams they want "the deepest return of assets available."

Lillard is coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high 32.2 points per game on 46.3 percent shooting in 58 starts.