The Portland Trail Blazers’ firing of Terry Stotts seems to have the potential to create serious upheaval around the league if things go wrong from here.
According to Shams Charania and Jason Quick of The Athletic, several NBA teams are said to be “intensely monitoring” developments in Portland to see if there is an opening to make a trade offer for Lillard. Several of the teams eyeing the situation are in the league’s biggest markets.
There is no indication that Lillard wants out of Portland, or that the Blazers would be at all interested in dealing their star guard. The franchise’s stance appears to be to keep Lillard as the centerpiece while they attempt to build a championship contender around him.
One scenario that teams may be watching for is if the Blazers don’t go in Lillard’s preferred direction when hiring a new coach. Whether that would be enough to unsettle Lillard enough to make a trade possible remains to be seen, but for now, this all seems far-fetched.
