After Damian Lillard’s transfer request, the NBA announces that stars will now pay a fine if demands are made public

Earlier this month, superstar Damian Lillard requested a trade outside of Portland, but a move is yet to happen. Days later, he made it clear he wanted to play in Miami as he’s rejected potential transfers to other squads.

The NBA does not see this positively, as they believe that all the transfer speculation around this can hurt the sport’s market. This is why they are now stepping in to make sure that future cases will be punished.

According to reports, the league sent a memo to all 30 teams explaining that if these kinds of requests are ever made public, players would have to pay fines. Their announcement use both Lillard and his agent Aaron Goodwin as references.

The NBA informed Damian Lillard and his agent that any future comments about Dame only wanting to play for the Heat would "potentially subject him to discipline," per @ShamsCharania pic.twitter.com/5CLIrAj2fq

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 28, 2023

“We interviewed Goodwin and Lillard and also spoke with several NBA teams to whom Goodwin spoke. Goodwin denied stating or indicating to any team that Lillard would refuse to play for them,” the memo states. “Goodwin and Lillard affirmed to us that Lillard would fully perform the services called for under his player contract in any trade scenario. The relevant teams provided descriptions of their communications with Goodwin that were mostly, though not entirely, consistent with Goodwin’s statements to us.”

“We have advised Goodwin and Lillard that any future comments, made privately to teams or publicly, suggesting Lillard will not fully perform the services called for under his player contract in the event of a trade will subject Lillard to discipline by the NBA,” it reads. “We also have advised the Players Association that any similar comments by players or their agents will be subject to discipline going forward.”

Weeks ago, Lillard’s agent explained that he’s only doing his job of keeping his client satisfied and was open about his wishes to play in Florida next season.

“I do what I should for my client. Some teams I did call. Other teams have called me,” Goodwin shared. “It’s a respectful relationship with most teams. Truthfully, he wants to play in Miami. Period.”

Sources indicate that the Trail Blazers are in no hurry to trade their star player as they await better offers

It’s already been more than a month since Damian demanded to be traded out of Oregon, but there hasn’t been any sustantial news about the negotiations. At one point, there was a lot of talk about the transfer talks with Miami, but they weren’t able to strike a deal.

Take a look at the media’s first reactions to the league sending a memo warning all NBA teams about future trade requests:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3I-qGlsvVA

NBA insider Anthony Chiang recently shared that Portland is in no hurry to strike a deal involving their star point guard.

“I don’t even know if I buy it 100 percent, but someone that has knowledge of what’s going on, they’re not even convinced that Portland wants to trade Damian Lillard at this point,” Chiang said on his podcast. “It almost feels like they’re trying to find a way to maybe change his mind or delay this and see if Dame goes, ‘Well, I’ll just be part of this.’”