Yep, It wasn't a lie. They gauged the market. This summer was the worst time to try to trade a draft pick for value. The number of teams in rebuild mode (with vet assets to offer) is the fewest in recent memory. Washington had Beal, which wouldn't help, but that was the only team that ripped it...
The "were willing" is doing a lot of work here in this quote? No evidence they made a serious offer and assumed that's Dame's agent was leverage enough.
I think that if the trade goes official as-is, then Jrue can't be delt in an aggregated trade for 2 months per the CBA. I'm guessing they are working the phones trying to get him moved in the main transaction to avoid this?