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Robin Lopez Offers Hotel Room Trade to Damian Lillard, Blazers in NBA Restart
June 17, 2020
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.
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 @ShamsCharaniaSources: 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:
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:
Dan Roche @RochieWBZMy 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:
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.