August is right around the corner, with NBA news slowing down to a crawl, as most teams have already filled out their rosters and star players have begun their vacations in anticipation of relaxing for the rest of the summer.
However, two superstars remain in limbo, with Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers and Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden requesting to be traded before the 2023-24 NBA season.
Although both players have let it be known where they’d like to play next, with Lillard favoring the Miami Heat and Harden wanting to play for his hometown Los Angeles Clippers, there’s been no movement on either trade front.
Unfortunately for Lillard, he may not get his wish of wanting to play alongside Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo in South Beach, with the league coming down hard on the superstar and his agent recently, leading some to believe that the NBA could veto a trade to Miami via Sam Amico of Hoops Wire.
I keep hearing NBA would veto any Lillard trade to Heat. Don’t think that’s entirely true … but it’s what people around league are telling me they foresee. https://t.co/ghIzxqGYpj
— Sam Amico (@AmicoHoops) July 28, 2023
Obviously, this would be a pretty drastic measure by the league to veto a trade of this magnitude, which hasn’t been done since Chris Paul was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers to play with Kobe Bryant back in 2011.
That scenario was completely different as it got messy for several reasons, one being the league’s attempt to sell the then-New Orleans Hornets.
As for Lillard, it will be interesting to see how things might change after the league threatened to discipline the superstar guard if he persists with his trade demand to the Heat.
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