Shams: Dame Lillard, Blazers Close to 2-Yr/$120M Max Extension

[Dominator83]

At this pace Luka and Giannis going to be commanding 90 - 100 million a year


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In my fantasy league last year those 2 went for $90 and $80 in a $200 cap

[BenoUdrihFTL]

Just seems unnecessary.

Already contracted for 3 seasons and showing clear signs of declining.

What is the worst thing that could happen to the Blazers if they just take some time to assess his form before giving out this deal?

Would it really be the worst thing if he demanded a trade?

I'm wondering if he didn't already demand a trade, and this extension was then the price Blazers had to pay to keep him content in Portland

[Jabroni Lames]

Loyalty FTW! RIP Blazers.

[The Rainmaker]

Good for Lillard for getting that money. I would've done the same.

[Sixerscan]

Good job, Dame!

By virtue of collective bargaining and the provisions of the maximum salary, Dame already gives up value to the NBA's middle class and caps his salary so that the team can add more talent. I support him demanding -- and getting -- every reward available to him.

From the team's POV? We can't know their thinking, but I think Synciere evaluated the situation well.

People take this as an article of faith despite all the very prominent examples of it not being true I don't know what to say anymore. Dame isn't worth his current contract. I'm not being hyperbolic either. None of the other 29 teams would offer Dame almost $40M per coming off the season he just had.

You don’t think the Lakers would swap him for Westbrook’s expiring in a second? I think plenty of teams would give him 40 per if they had the means. May not be a good investment but neither is a lot of free agency.

[jbk1234]

Good job, Dame!

By virtue of collective bargaining and the provisions of the maximum salary, Dame already gives up value to the NBA's middle class and caps his salary so that the team can add more talent. I support him demanding -- and getting -- every reward available to him.

From the team's POV? We can't know their thinking, but I think Synciere evaluated the situation well.

People take this as an article of faith despite all the very prominent examples of it not being true I don't know what to say anymore. Dame isn't worth his current contract. I'm not being hyperbolic either. None of the other 29 teams would offer Dame almost $40M per coming off the season he just had.

You don’t think the Lakers would swap him for Westbrook’s expiring in a second? I think plenty of teams would give him 40 per if they had the means. May not be a good investment but neither is a lot of free agency.

That he could be traded for one of, if not the worst contract in the NBA doesn't mean he could sign for his current deal on the open market.

[Chessboxer]

I’m all for sticking it out with the team and trying to win a championship in Portland. But you can’t go around and moan anymore about the franchise not being able to build a team around you. You are taking a huge portion of the salary cap with this extension. If you really wanted to win championshis, you’ll atleast take a small hit on your extension so the team has salary cap space to bring in another star etc.

What do you consider a small hit? He would need to take likely more than a 50% paycut for the team to have cap room in those seasons to add players, and more if he wants those players to be good.

Lebron/Wade took a paycut to form the Heatles, they were making like 12 mill/yr IIRC. Lillard isn’t half the player they are. Duncan took a paycut too. Lillard is entitled to take what he wants, but a lot of NBA fans don’t want to hear him whine about surrounding talent , when superior players have historically taken less money to win championships.

[elias808]

I’m all for sticking it out with the team and trying to win a championship in Portland. But you can’t go around and moan anymore about the franchise not being able to build a team around you. You are taking a huge portion of the salary cap with this extension. If you really wanted to win championshis, you’ll atleast take a small hit on your extension so the team has salary cap space to bring in another star etc.

What do you consider a small hit? He would need to take likely more than a 50% paycut for the team to have cap room in those seasons to add players, and more if he wants those players to be good.

Lebron/Wade took a paycut to form the Heatles, they were making like 12 mill/yr IIRC. Lillard isn’t half the player they are. Duncan took a paycut too. Lillard is entitled to take what he wants, but a lot of NBA fans don’t want to hear him whine about surrounding talent , when superior players have historically taken less money to win championships.

Harden taking less recently is a prime example of this. In the NFL, Brady has frequently taken less money in order for the franchise to build a better team.

I’m not hating on Dame for getting his bag, but it’s very frustrating as a fan.

[Myth]

What do you consider a small hit? He would need to take likely more than a 50% paycut for the team to have cap room in those seasons to add players, and more if he wants those players to be good.

Lebron/Wade took a paycut to form the Heatles, they were making like 12 mill/yr IIRC. Lillard isn’t half the player they are. Duncan took a paycut too. Lillard is entitled to take what he wants, but a lot of NBA fans don’t want to hear him whine about surrounding talent , when superior players have historically taken less money to win championships.

Harden taking less recently is a prime example of this. In the NFL, Brady has frequently taken less money in order for the franchise to build a better team.

I’m not hating on Dame for getting his bag, but it’s very frustrating as a fan.

The Heat had an immediate plan and the 76ers are also close to that contention area, so saving money has a direct effect on those teams. If Blazers were near contention and missing a small piece with the savings or if Blazers said we can get Durant if you take less, I suspect he’d do it. But again, he’d need to take a crazy pay cut and then hope Portland is a free agent destination suddenly for the discount to have any effect. These situations are apples and oranges.

[Courant]

Hahaha, insta worst contract in the league. I kinda feel badly for Portland fans tho. Their recent signings and the KD rumors probably gave them brief hope of contending... only for Dame to dash those hopes with this contract. I can't see other stars signing up to play along with him now... cos whatever they do to help Portland win, Dame will get all the credit while also earning double their dollars, lol.

Stephen Curry: Loses Game 7 of the NBA Finals, he and his teammates fly across the country to convince KD to join them.

Damian Lillard: Team is in the lottery, posts a picture of him and KD in Blazers jerseys, signs another salary cap-clogging contract.

But, hey: Dame "just wants to win."

[monopoman]

I’m all for sticking it out with the team and trying to win a championship in Portland. But you can’t go around and moan anymore about the franchise not being able to build a team around you. You are taking a huge portion of the salary cap with this extension. If you really wanted to win championshis, you’ll atleast take a small hit on your extension so the team has salary cap space to bring in another star etc.

What do you consider a small hit? He would need to take likely more than a 50% paycut for the team to have cap room in those seasons to add players, and more if he wants those players to be good.

Lebron/Wade took a paycut to form the Heatles, they were making like 12 mill/yr IIRC. Lillard isn’t half the player they are. Duncan took a paycut too. Lillard is entitled to take what he wants, but a lot of NBA fans don’t want to hear him whine about surrounding talent , when superior players have historically taken less money to win championships.

Keep in mind that was before the big salary cap jump, so that was more like making $25 million today, they also had escalating pay on those contracts in LBJ's last year with the Heat he was up to $19 million. It also was more than $12 according to Sportrac the lowest he ever was paid to be on the Heat was $14.5 million.

It's also a lot easier to convince a star to take a slight pay decrease when you are trying to sign 3 star level players, it's a lot harder when it's more nebulous like oh maybe it will help us in the future.

[Swish1906]

I think Dames agent went to the Blazers "give us this extension and he wont demand a trade"

[ForeverTFC]

Luka or Giannis will almost certainly become the first $100M per year player, depending on how the next TV & streaming deal looks.

Does anyone have the tv deals, streaming deals etc yearly ?

Sorry if someone beat me to it but believe the current deal is about ~$2.5b a year while revenue is around ~$10b. NBA is trying to 3x the deal, assume they get ~2.5x, you have ~$6b per year, bringing revenue to $13.5b keeping all the other money constant. So cap would go up by 3.5/10=~35% in that case. ~$160m cap with the tax at ~~$190m. Crazy numbers.

[NW BBALL]

Certainly a lot of money to pay an aging PG. But realistically in order for Portland to really “contend”, it would require a potentially painful rebuild and lucking into a generational player. Giannis and Steph have proved to be generational players that turned the fortunes of long flailing organizations but I don’t think anyone expected that of them on draft day. Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Houston each went all in to become contenders in their own way but didn’t get any further than Portland did in 2019. New Orleans lucked into a pair of potentially generational players in AD and then Zion but one skipped to LA and the other I am confident will go down as a great “what if”. A player that is loyal to an organization is exceedingly rare in the league today. What that massive contract buys Portland is a player that will smash ever franchise record and remain a sports legend in the city for decades.

[Dubnation]

Hahaha, insta worst contract in the league. I kinda feel badly for Portland fans tho. Their recent signings and the KD rumors probably gave them brief hope of contending... only for Dame to dash those hopes with this contract. I can't see other stars signing up to play along with him now... cos whatever they do to help Portland win, Dame will get all the credit while also earning double their dollars, lol.

Stephen Curry: Loses Game 7 of the NBA Finals, he and his teammates fly across the country to convince KD to join them.

Damian Lillard: Team is in the lottery, posts a picture of him and KD in Blazer jerseys, signs another salary cap-clogging contract.

But, hey: Dame "just wants to win."

Interesting perspective.

[CS707]

Portland is in a tough spot with Dame anyway. It’s unlikely they get value on him with a trade given the only teams that would go hard for him are playoff level teams and he’s got a couple of good years left himself. Those teams aren’t giving up rebuilding pieces and their draft picks are likely not worth much. Might as well just roll with him.

[monopoman]

Certainly a lot of money to pay an aging PG. But realistically in order for Portland to really “contend”, it would require a potentially painful rebuild and lucking into a generational player. Giannis and Steph have proved to be generational players that turned the fortunes of long flailing organizations but I don’t think anyone expected that of them on draft day. Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Houston each went all in to become contenders in their own way but didn’t get any further than Portland did in 2019. New Orleans lucked into a pair of potentially generational players in AD and then Zion but one skipped to LA and the other I am confident will go down as a great “what if”. A player that is loyal to an organization is exceedingly rare in the league today. What that massive contract buys Portland is a player that will smash ever franchise record and remain a sports legend in the city for decades.

Yep we sure as **** wont' have a Giannis level player seriously considering us in free agency. ****, even when Dame was in his prime we didn't hear a lot of talk about X star player wanting to be a Blazer. I think the only one was when Harden said he wouldn't mind being a Blazer just before he was traded to Brooklyn. That was a trade scenario though, who knows what he would have said if he was a free agent.

I would have loved to see an all-in move on Kawhi or something even as a 1 year rental back when he was being traded from the Spurs but our GM overvalued the Dame+CJ pairing. **** we probably could have gotten him for CJ+ one young player and a pick or two.

[Case2012]

He had one bad season in 10 years after not being able to ignore an injury he's been suffering from for 4 years and people think he's washed. His contract can't be more than 35% of the cap which is what he's making now. Steph will be 35 next season and he just won a fmvp. Does anyone actually use logic on here anymore? Sure it would be great if taking a pay cut meant being able to sign another star but no one wants to come here anyways. Harden, KD, LeBron etc all structured their deals so they could team up.

[benhillboy]

Tough times for Blazers fans man I feel for y’all. I dug those Adleman teams and Brandon Roy was the man.

Fun fact: This upcoming season Lilliard is making more than twice what Terry Porter made in his career. Terry Porter had 7 career triple doubles. Lilliard has 1.

The blazers paid him $3M as a rookie to lead the league in minutes. Now they have to pay $60M when it’s literally impossible for him to lead the league in anything. Add in the possibility that Hart, Payton, and Grant are all gonna hate playing with a dude who never screens, cuts, or defends (and makes $18M more than they do combined) and it’s gonna get ugly sooner than later.

[flow]

2022-23: $42m

2023-24: $46m

2024-25: $49m player option

2025-26: ~$59m

2026-27: ~$63m

Wait how would that PO work? Wouldn't thisget rid of the PO then?

Yes, the player option was exercised by signing the extension. '26/27 is now a player option.