Adam Silver has given his thoughts on the trade requests of NBA stars Damian Lillard and James Harden.
The pairs requests to be traded came months ago but they still haven’t gotten to their desired respective destinations – Miami and Los Angeles.
The rumors and speculation have been rife and on Wednesday morning during a press conference, Silver was asked about what he thinks of the trade requests.
“In terms of trade demands, of course don’t like them,” Silver said. “As a league, we want players and teams to honor their contracts. I’m watching both the situation in Portland and Philadelphia, and hope they get worked out to the satisfaction of everyone before the season starts. I’m glad that things seem to have settled down somewhat, at least in terms of public discourse.”
Former Clippers players JJ Redick shared an interesting perspective on the Harden trade saga recently.
“I do think with Harden, and this is not a knock on Harden at all, I do think the trade market right now is not… So much of the NBA is timing,” Redick said on The Old Man and The Three. “The timing of when you hit free agency, which teams have cap space, so free agency is very similar in my opinion to the trade market. You don’t know if you’re a player going into free agency, if you will have a robust free agency market.”
When players start to make trade requests to specific franchises, it can make things a little bit tricky as those teams may not have the assets needed to acquire a player of Harden or Lillard’s stature.
As for Lillard, trade talks between Miami and Portland are reportedly ramping up once more.
Training camp is almost upon us, so if the pair want to get things sorted before then, they are running out of time.
