The fallout from the 

Damian Lillard trade  

might have the Trail 

Blazers in big trouble 

with the NBA

 

The story that has everyone’s attention is the latest from Bleacher Report’s Chris Hyanes. (sic)...

In it, Haynes revealed that Lillard tried to rescind his trade request, only for Blazers GM Joe Cronin to reportedly tell him there was “no coming back.” That, somehow, ended up not being the most interesting tidbit included.

Haynes reported that the Trail Blazers legitimately asked Lillard to sit out with a fake calf injury so they could tank the final 10 games.

...

That right there? That’s a bombshell.

For it to be so specifically reported here in a story where Lillard, himself, went on the record? That’s a big deal. That’s league investigation-worthy.

Look, we’re not dumb.  Fans have always known that tanking was a thing. The Blazers, in particular, have gotten really good at it at the end of the season.

But this story put it out in the open. This is far worse than what the Mavericks were fined $750,000 for at the end of last season when the team openly tanked the final two games of the year for better draft capital. Portland’s stint was reportedly 10 games here and the team faked an injury to its best player.

If the league launches an investigation into this and finds there to be some truth here, we could be staring at massive penalties for the Trail Blazers ranging from huge fines to loss of draft picks and everything in between. This is a big accusation.

Of course, there is some reason to be skeptical here. It’s not a secret how close Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes and Damian Lillard are. The two are legitimately friends and that’s fine....

Even if that’s the case, though, where there’s smoke there is often fire. If even a sliver of this actually happened, it’s a massive red flag for the NBA and something the league should jump in.

The league’s new player participation rules prevent things like this from happening moving forward into the future, so it’s clearly far less of a problem today than it was last year in the NBA. Maybe, since it’s not an issue moving forward, it’s not worth diving into and making an already messy situation worse for the NBA as it tries to figure out its next television deal.

That's awkwardly phrased. 1) As this pencil just wrote Mark Cuban was penalized significantly for openly tanking under the "old rules" last season, the same season that Cronin allegedly got Lillard to sit out. Tanking and faking injuries, load management and bullshit nominal injuries have never been kosher. 2) The "new rules" "moving forward", i.e. for this upcoming season, deeply disincentivize that shit, but they really can't prevent it. LeBron can always slow walk for 48 mins or not pass to open teammates or expose a teammate on D. They new rules put meat on the only bones they can:  a) no sitting two stars at the same time b) no getting around #1 by playing a star token minutes. The rules going forward don't mean Portland can't be hammered under the rules that were in place. I do agree that the league likely will not hammer Portland, as "it’s not worth diving into and making an already messy situation worse for the NBA..." I think that ignoring it is wrong, deeply wrong. In his own words Adam Silver was "watching" the situation in Portland after Lillard made his trade demand. To be fair-handed Adam should investigate the team just as he investigated Lillard and his agent's public comments re only wanting to go to Miami. If he doesn't investigate the feeling, already present, is that he put his hand on the scale to favor Portland and to disfavor Miami

But, from here on out, I’ll definitely be looking at the Trail Blazers a bit sideways from this. I’m sure the NBA will, too.