Raps Next GM wrote:ArthurVandelay wrote:Only thing I’d point out is both Lillard and Siakam’s actions have undermined their respective teams. Definitely a debate to be had about to what extent.
So flip that around: Siakam can’t sign a supermax with another team, only the Raptors. So the Raptors trading him
undermines him to the tune of an extra year on his next contract AND $100 million!
If you were in Siakam’s position, would you care about how you’re undermining the Raptors value…so that
they can get rid of you?
If he could still get the supermax elsewhere then I would agree completely but we can’t expect him to play nice when it’s going to potentially cost him nine figures and the only reason they want to move him is so that they don’t have to pay him that money.
ArthurVandelay wrote:Your analogy made me think of the old joke:
Why are divorces so expensive?
Because they’re worth it! Lol
Haha! Based on my morning interaction with the wife, perhaps I should consider that investment.
The job of the Raptors is to do what is in the franchises best interests. A supermax for him isn’t that. Moving on from Siakam is also what I feel is in the best interest for the franchise and my issue is he’s actively lowering his trade value to the detriment of the team and fans.
Does Siakam care? Probably not. But my point is this is about money and at the end of the day he wants to get as much as possible AND choose where he plays. He wants BOTH options and he’s squeezing the Raptors to make it happen.
If the supermax is off the table and he wants to get the 5-year regular max, he needs to honour his contract and go to a team willing to give up the assets to get his Bird Rights.
If he wants to pick his next team, well he can sacrifice an extra year and $60+m. I’d respect him for making this sacrifice to get to where he wants to be.m and that would be his right as an UFA.
Now I’m not in Siakam’s head or inner circle, I don’t know what he wants. But my issue is it seems he wants maximum money and control over where he plays and that is hurting the Raptors.
So now flip to Portland. They are doing what they feel is in their best interests, building around youth, after Dame has spent numerous losing seasons wanting to contend in Portland. They have told him we want to build around you but their actions clearly showed that was not the case. He finally has enough and asks out because it’s clear the Blazers want to get rid of him, they just don’t want to take the blame for trading arguably best Blazer ever.
Does Dame care about undermining his value so they can get rid of him? No. Is it right? No, but I have sympathy for him.
The reason why I have sympathy for Dame is the Blazers should have just put on the big boy pants and traded him as soon as it became clear Scoot was their new PG and they didn’t want to sacrifice the assets necessary to build around Dame.