Damian Lillard may not have requested a trade, but that doesn't mean Blazers should wait for him to do so

Why should the Blazers delay the inevitable?

Trading a superstar is a lot like racing a cheetah. You're probably going to lose. You might even get killed. But if you want to win, your best bet is to give yourself the biggest head start you can possibly get. The Oklahoma City Thunder dealt Paul George mere days after his request -- one that wasn't made public until after the trade -- and received a historic haul in the process. The Los Angeles Clippers received George and were familiar with the strategy. The Clippers themselves stunned the basketball world by shipping Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons months after signing him to a five-year extension without leaking a peep. In exchange for their oft-injured franchise player, they received two assets that would later become essential in their pursuit of George: Tobias Harris, whom they dealt for picks that would later be re-routed to Oklahoma City, and the first-round pick that, after a detour to Charlotte, would become Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The longer the process drags out, the uglier it gets. Jimmy Butler went out of his way to humiliate the Minnesota Timberwolves, who had little choice but to swap him for Robert Covington and Dario Saric. They didn't even receive a first-round pick in the deal. The Houston Rockets (James Harden) and New Orleans Pelicans (Anthony Davis) got far more back for their stars, but similar processes played out for each of them. It's a playbook stars have spent the past decade mastering. Make things ugly for your team. Exclude certain bidders from the process. Force management's hand.