Portland Trail Blazers could face $750,000+ fine and major NBA probe involving Damian Lillard: What we know so far
The Portland Trail Blazers could face a fine and investigation from the NBA. On September 28th, Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes revealed that Portland asked Damian Lillard to sit out the final 10 games of the season so that they could acquire a better draft pick.
The team cited Lillard having a calf injury on their injury reports and lost 9 of the 10 games while their superstar guard was unavailable. The Trail Blazers ended up with the third overall pick in the NBA draft, Scoot Henderson.
Haynes wrote in the report:
"According to sources, Portland had asked Lillard to sit out the final 10 games of the 2022-23 regular season to help the franchise improve its lottery odds. He was told the higher the draft pick, the better chance they had at using the pick to facilitate a trade for a proven veteran player. He reluctantly acquiesced to being shut down, citing a "calf injury."
The news regarding Portland's decision to bench their star player came less than 24 hours after Lillard was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, ending a summer-long saga that saw the Miami Heat consistently cited as his most likely landing spot.
The Portland Trail Blazers could face a similar punishment to the Dallas Mavericks
Earlier this summer, the NBA fined the Dallas Mavericks $750,000 for violating the league's resting policy.
The team rested five players, including Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, for the final three-quarters of the April 7 game against the Chicago Bulls. Dallas made the decision to rest their stars to obtain a higher draft pick.
The NBA said in a statement:
“The Mavericks violated the league’s player resting policy and demonstrated through actions and public statements the organization’s desire to lose the game in order to improve the chances of keeping its first-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. The league did not find that the players who participated in the game were not playing to win.”
As such, there is already a precedent for the league to work with, which could land the Trail Blazers in hot water in the coming months. With the latest information, it was clear Portland had decided to enter a full-scale rebuild of their roster by the time last season ended.
Damian Lillard has been vocal about his desire to compete for a championship. Now, with the Bucks, the veteran guard has the opportunity to play alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo on a team that is expected to make the NBA Finals.