Blazers offer update on Damian Lillard situation. Also, Heat adds undrafted prospects

One thing appears to be clear: The Portland Trail Blazers do not want to trade star guard Damian Lillard. The question becomes whether Lillard will force their hand.

“I would love to see Dame retire a Trail Blazer, I have zero desire to trade him. I really hope this works out here,” Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin said to reporters in Oregon following Thursday night’s draft.

Miami Heat keeps pick, drafts UCLA forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. at No. 18 in NBA Draft

The problem is Lillard reportedly does not want to be part of a youth movement and another rebuild as a 32-year-old seven-time All-Star who’s still chasing his first NBA championship.

The belief is that Lillard wanted the Trail Blazers to trade the No. 3 overall pick in Thursday’s draft to add win-now talent who would have immediately improved the team’s odds of again becoming a contending team in the Western Conference. But the Trail Blazers kept the selection and picked 19-year-old guard Scoot Henderson.

While Lillard has yet to publicly request a trade, the Heat is expected to aggressively pursue him should he decide to take his NBA career elsewhere. TNT and Bleacher Report NBA reporter Chris Haynes, who is known to have a close relationship with Lillard, reported early Friday morning that Lillard has not had any recent communication with the Trail Blazers involving the draft, free agency or his future.

The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Thursday night as the draft was winding down that Lillard won’t immediately ask for a trade. Charania said that Lillard’s decision on his future will extend “now between tonight and the start of free agency and into free agency” to give the Trail Blazers a bit more time to make upgrades to their roster.

“Haven’t talked to [Lillard] since Tuesday,” Cronin said. “Been in contact with his agent, Aaron Goodwin, Wednesday, today multiple times going into the draft, just keeping him apprised of what our plans are and, hey, we’re going to draft here. Trying to communicate and be upfront and make sure we’re all on the same page.”

Does Cronin feel like he’s in danger of losing Lillard?

“No, I don’t,” Cronin said when asked that question. “I think Dame badly, badly wants to win and he’s probably being more vocal about that than ever, but I don’t look at that as a negative. I look at that as he’s passionate about this, it matters deeply to him and it matters deeply to us.

“I think the reason you haven’t seen major issues from us or the reason you still see Dame in our gym every day or still meeting with Chauncey [Billups] and I constantly is because he wants us to work. He’s bought in, he wants it to work here and he’s challenging us to get it done, which I think is more than fair and he’s earned that.”

Lillard averaged a career-high 32.2 points per game while shooting 46.3 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from three-point range in 58 games last season. The Trail Blazers still finished with the NBA’s fifth-worst regular-season record at 33-49.

Lillard is under contract for the next four seasons. He’s due $45.6 million this upcoming season.

“There’s nothing we want more than, number one, for Dame to retire a Trail Blazer, and two, put a winner around him, a high-end winner,” Cronin said. “I think that’s what gets misconstrued about Dame sometimes, like for us, it’s an incredible problem to have. We have the best player in Trail Blazers history, that wants to be here and wants to have a winner put around him, and that’s our challenge. That’s where we’ve got to keep doing our thing and find ways to make this team as competitive as possible, as quickly as possible.”

HEAT’S SUMMER LEAGUE ROSTER

After adding UCLA forward Jamie Jaquez Jr. in the first round of Thursday’s NBA Draft, the Heat immediately turned its attention to the undrafted pool of players.

Among the undrafted prospects who reportedly committed to be on the Heat’s summer league team are Washington State guard Justin Powell, Marist center Patrick Gardner, Utah State forward Taylor Funk, Villanova guard Caleb Daniels, Georgia Tech wing Ja’von Franklin, Western Illinois guard Trenton Massner, Northwestern guard Chase Audige and USC forward Drew Peterson.

In addition, 2022 first-round pick Nikola Jovic, 2022-23 two-way contract players Jamal Cain and Orlando Robinson, and 2022-23 G League prospect Jamaree Bouyea are expected to be part of the Heat’s summer league team for a second straight year. Jaquez will also play on Miami’s summer league team.

The Heat leaves for the West Coast next week to begin summer league practices on July 1 before opening summer league action against the Los Angeles Lakers as part of the California Classic on July 3 in Sacramento. The Heat then wraps up its two-game schedule at the California Classic with a matchup against the Sacramento Kings’ summer league roster on July 5 before moving on to the larger Las Vegas Summer League that spans from July 7-17.

The Heat will play at least five summer league games in Las Vegas, beginning on July 8 against the Boston Celtics.