Certainly interesting that nothing has come out yet about the extension, except that no earnest negotiations have taken place yet.
On Friday I think Himmelsbach said both sides were expecting to get a deal done, but that was before the official Dame trade request. Further, since then we’ve had reports that Boston has reached out about Dame’s price, along with reports of JT recruiting Dave to Boston.
I still think a JB extension is most likely and our best course, and I doubt we’d trade JB for him. However, it’s certainly possible that we feel that we’d rather maximize our next 2-3 year window via a Dame trade, and putting JB on the table (either to Portland directly or via a three team trade) would certainly put our offer at or near the top. I think a lot of this may be based on how JT feels.
That said, I just hope Portland doesn’t cave and trade him to Miami for 30 cents on the dollar when there are better options on the table. Would be a continuing terrible precedent for this league. Can’t just give guys huge money and contracts and then be peer pressured into acquiescing their every wish on a trade.