'If it takes months, it takes months': Blazers GM says he's in no hurry to trade Damian Lillard

PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin was candid during a conversation with reporters Monday in Las Vegas, saying he does feel like he failed Damian Lillard and understands why the Blazers superstar guard requested a trade.

That doesn't mean, Cronin made clear, that he's going to send Lillard to his preferred destination if the trade return is not right for Portland.

More than a week after Lillard's July 2 trade request, Cronin said he remains focused on doing what's best for the Blazers. Lillard's representation has made it known that he wants to be traded only to the Miami Heat. Though Cronin said he cares about Lillard — "what the rest of his career looks like matters to us and we care about that," he said — he reiterated that his top priority is to do what's right for the Blazers, no matter how long it takes.

"We're going to be patient," Cronin said. "We're going to do what's best for our team and we're going to see how this lands, and if it takes months, it takes months."

Cronin said he hasn't spoken to Lillard since the trade request and that, as of Monday, there has been no significant movement in trade conversations.

The Blazers don't have a set criteria for what they're looking for in a Lillard trade, Cronin said, adding that the front office just wants to "come out with the best outcome." He said that could mean a trade for a win-now player, a deal for a talented young player and draft picks, or even a trade for just draft picks.

"For us, it's how can we maximize this return," Cronin said. "I don't think we have any set parameters. We would evaluate each deal, case by case, and choose the best one."

The Blazers general manager said he understands why Lillard asked to be traded. He said Portland's front office wanted to build a contending roster around Lillard but came up short.

"I don't feel that I did everything [I could] because I didn't get done what we had hoped to get done. The effort being there, which it was, that's one thing. But actually following through and getting the results is a whole other [thing]. To that extent, I do feel like I failed Dame," Cronin said. "Our goal was always to build around him and be as high-level as possible, as quickly as possible. Even internally if we thought, 'Hey, we're going in the right direction here, we can get there pretty quickly,' if he didn't feel that, it was still a failure on my end, just not finding that right deal."

Cronin said he had a lot of conversations with teams trying to bring win-now players to Portland, but "those players just weren't available."

Leading up to the NBA Draft the past two seasons, the Blazers had valuable trade chips in the seventh overall pick and then the third overall pick. But Cronin said the players other teams were offering in trades were not as valuable as Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson, the players Portland ended up drafting with those picks.

The Blazers general manager said he thinks Henderson, Sharpe and 24-year-old Anfernee Simons, who is entering his sixth season in the NBA, form a good nucleus for Portland to build around.

"One thing I'll say about Shaedon, Scoot and Anfernee, is they're going to be win-now players very soon," he said. "Those guys are going to impact winning very soon in this league."

Cronin said the door will always be open for Lillard if he wants to return to Portland.

"We wanted him to retire a Trail Blazer," he said. "We're very open-minded to any time Dame wants to be a part of us."

Jerami Grant and Matisse Thybulle spoke after Cronin about coming back to Portland. Grant signed a five-year, $160 million deal to return and the Blazers matched a three-year, $33 million offer sheet Thybulle signed with the Dallas Mavericks. Watch that video here.