Comment on Portland asked Lillard to sit out final 10 games
ConditionOverload@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I don’t think there’s any good side to anyone involved here. A team should do what they need to do to become better, so Dame and his agent saying they’ll only go to Miami is detrimental to the team getting the best possible trade assets for him. Dame was simply going with what his contracts have noted, which is to get paid to play basketball for Portland, that doesn’t require the team to think he’s a “loyal soldier” that deserves to go to a team of his choice [when he’s not even a free agent]. He’s just doing his job.
On the other hand, Blazers’ communication with Dame should’ve been better and shouldn’t have been this toxic. Making him sit on a fake medical issue is very bad, even though they wanted better draft picks and ensure Dame isn’t injured during that time to possibly trade him. That’s just straight up illegal in the NBA.
TAG@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Maybe it a fake injury or an injury that Dame thought he could have played through but the team did not want him to aggravate. I am sure we know what story the Blazers will tell the league.
I am not sure the league can police if a player was actually injured or not. I am sure that just about every player has some ache, pain, or old injury that is bothering him and by playing and not resting, the player is slowing the healing process and risking the injury getting worse. Often players are told not to play by a doctor even though that player is still capable of playing due to being at risk for a serious injury (due to a partial bone fracture, for example).
ConditionOverload@lemmy.world 8 months ago
This is all very true, I agree entirely.