According to Bill Simmons, Dame would have opted to stay in Portland only if the front office stayed true to its word that it would do everything to create a championship-contending roster around the superstar. “This is something I heard; I don’t know if people have talked about it,” Simmons said in his latest podcast episode. “But this is what I heard with the Dame story – that when they shut him down, and he had a chance to be first-team All-NBA, he was having a great season, and they were like, ‘No, we’ll obviously get a better pick.’ They talked him into that. ‘We’ll trade the pick.’ And they didn’t know they were getting Scoot.” “I think when they got Scoot, that changed the equation,” Simmons continued. “And that’s what led to the late trade request. … I think there was from the Dame side – I’m not gonna say ‘betrayed’ – but I think there was an understanding that they were gonna make a trade. And I think when they landed Scoot, they realized what they had. It’s like, ‘Dude, we’re keeping Scoot. We’re not trading him.’” -via Basketball Network / July 11, 2023
