Joe Cronin addresses Damian Lillard's trade request: 'We're Going to Be Patient'

The Trail Blazers' general manager spoke to reporters for the first time since Lillard asked out on July 1.

LAS VEGAS — A year ago this time, Joe Cronin gave a press conference in one of the meeting rooms at the Thomas and Mack Center during Summer League to announce Damian Lillard's two-year, $122 million extension that kept him under contract with the Trail Blazers through 2027. This time, the setting was the same but the circumstances couldn't be more different.

Ahead of the team officially re-introducing the newly re-signed Jerami Grant and Matisse Thybulle, the Blazers' general manager took the podium by himself to speak to reporters for the first time since Damian Lillard's July 1 trade request.

Over the first four days of Summer League, Lillard's future and the timing of a potential trade has been a near-constant topic of conversation among agents, team executives and press. But as it stands, nothing has changed about the situation. Both Cronin and Lillard's agent, Aaron Goodwin, have made clear where they stand, both through anonymous leaks to their preferred media insiders and, now, in on-the-record comments. Lillard only wants to be in Miami, and Cronin is in no rush to send him there if he doesn't get a deal he feels is an acceptable return for the franchise's all-time leading scorer.

In other words, don't expect this to get resolved anytime soon.