Rumor: Knicks Preparing For Damian Lillard Trade

With the news that Damian Lillard may want out of Portland, teams all around the NBA are scrambling to put together trade offers. The New York Knicks, for one, are angling to be front and center in the Dame Sweepstakes.

#Knicks already preparing for a potential Damian Lillard trade. 😯 #NBA https://t.co/PmRvuTOc93
— NBA Analysis Network (@HoopAnalysisNet) June 29, 2021

Oddsmakers are betting on the Knicks too.

If Damian Lillard decides he wants out of Portland, the Knicks are the favorite to land the star guard: https://t.co/dxm5rn9HV9 pic.twitter.com/cjAt0YuBfx
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 29, 2021

"People in touch with the organization recently came away with the impression that New York would be interested in trading for Lillard," reported Knicks insider Ian Begley.

No surprise there. The Knicks have been desperate for years for a superstar to lead them back to NBA relevance. Now, the prep work for making a big push for Lillard has begun.

The team has been doing their due diligence "for weeks now", according to Begley, on the possibility of Lillard wanting a trade from the Trail Blazers, and what it would take to land him.

Make no mistake, it will take a king's ransom to pry Portland's franchise player out of the Pacific Northwest. At just 30 years old, Lillard is in his prime, and one of the league's most explosive and clutch scorers. But he has been unnerved recently by the hate he's taken on for not speaking up on the Blazers' hiring of Chauncey Billups, who, it has recently come to light, was involved in a sexual assault allegation 24 years ago.

Lillard is also said to be exasperated at the team's inability to get to true championship contender level status.

This is a situation that is far from resolved, but New York is already charged up about the possibility.