Robin Lopez Offers Hotel Room Trade to Damian Lillard, Blazers in NBA Restart

Paul KasabianSenior ContributorJune 17, 2020

Bart Young/Getty Images

The NBA trade deadline passed on Feb. 6, but Milwaukee Bucks center Robin Lopez is looking to cut a deal with some former Portland Trail Blazers teammates.

With the 2019-20 NBA season set to resume at the Walt Disney World Resort following a months-long hiatus due to COVID-19, Lopez is willing to exchange hotel rooms.

Robin Lopez @rolopez42
I will trade hotel rooms with any @trailblazers players @Dame_Lillard @CJMcCollum @carmeloanthony

On Tuesday, Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic revealed the hotel room accommodations for the invited 22 teams, each of whom are scheduled to play eight regular-season games beginning July 30 before the 16-team playoffs.

Shams Charania @ShamsCharania
Sources: NBA teams Disney hotels based on seeding: -Grand Destino: Bucks, Lakers, Raptors, Clippers, Celtics, Nuggets, Jazz, Heat -Grand Floridian: Thunder, 76ers, Rockets, Pacers, Mavericks, Nets, Grizzlies, Magic -Yacht Club: Blazers, Kings, Pelicans, Spurs, Suns, Wizards

The big man appears to favor the Yacht Club over his assignment at the Gran Destino, which is located within the Coronado Springs Resort property in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. But he's looked at the bright side of his situation as well, noting the proximity to Disney World's preeminent water park:

Robin Lopez @rolopez42
Blizzard Beach is right down the road...if I have to be in Destino, I'll settle for private access to Cross Country Creek. https://t.co/zarnUIIak3

It's unclear why Lopez favors the Yacht Club, but some obvious reasons stand out. ESPN's Mark Jones and D'Arcy Maine, True Hoop's Adena Jones and WBZ's Dan Roche pointed out a few:

MarkJonesESPN @MarkJonesESPN
@rolopez42 @Ballislife @trailblazers @Dame_Lillard @CJMcCollum @carmeloanthony @rolopez...The Yacht Club at Disney is my favorite. It has a sand pool with 2 awesome water slides.

Adena Jones @adena_andrews
@darcymaine_espn Exacttttlllyyyy. How is yacht club the last pick. The pool has sand at the bottom! Sand!!!

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Dan Roche @RochieWBZ
My choices would be: 1) Yacht Club —walk to Epcot, boat to Hollywood Studios, and it’s on the boardwalk 2) Grand Floridian —on the monorail, one stop to Magic Kingdom, great pool 3) Grand Destino —never stayed there but it’s a bus ride to everything @Toucherandrich https://t.co/hbMpI355AG

Lopez is a big Disney fan, and the same goes for his twin brother and fellow Bucks big man Brook Lopez, who owns a home on the Disney World property, per ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk. The brothers are frequent guests of all Disney parks stateside and worldwide, including Paris and Tokyo.

When word emerged from Charania that Walt Disney World might house the NBA for the remainder of the 2019-20 season, Lopez immediately staked a claim to a favored resort:

Robin Lopez @rolopez42
Dibs on the Polynesian!!! https://t.co/CuwM2epBJv

Lopez won't be staying there, but if he's unable to make a trade with some old Blazer friends, then he'll have a nice consolation price at Gran Destino, a relatively new offering that opened last July.