A group of NBA Insiders over at ESPN came together and proposed several deals that could make sense for Damian Lillard and the Trail Blazers.
Given the Cavaliers’ hot start, they were listed as one of the teams, as the proposed deal would send Collin Sexton, Isaac Okoro, Kevin Love, 2022 first-round pick (from CLE), 2022 second-round pick (from HOU) and 2024 first-round pick (from CLE) to Portland for Lillard and Robert Covington.
Lillard would come in and immediately form one of the better backcourt duos in the league with Darius Garland, and with Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley there to do damage inside and Lauri Markkanen there to stretch the floor, this could have the Cavs contending in the Eastern Conference for the next couple of seasons. Simply put, Lillard’s presence as a scorer would open things up for everyone.
This would also allow the Cavs to move on from Sexton if they don’t deem him worthy of the max contract he’ll be seeking this offseason and give them an easy opportunity to offload Love’s contract, as he’ll be returning to his home state of Oregon.
Okoro displays promise as a two-way player, but his offense isn’t coming on as quickly as Cleveland hoped. However, he could thrive in a rebuilding situation.
Lillard has repeatedly expressed his loyalty to Portland, but even if he eventually requests out, it’d be highly unlikely he’d want to go to Cleveland, as he may want to go to a bigger city and/or a place where he’d be ready to legitimately compete for a championship.
