Damian Lillard’s faith in the Portland Trail Blazers’ ability to build a championship contender around himself has finally reached its breaking point, as the seven-time All-Star point guard asked for a trade from the franchise that selected him No. 6 overall in the 2012 NBA draft. According to Vince Goodwill of Yahoo Sports.
Lillard owes $216.2 million over the next four seasons, including $63.2 million in the 2026-27 campaign.
Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets are Only the difference is in his menu, according to good intentionsBecause the Philadelphia 76ers are not the preferred destination. Shams Al-Shaaraniyyah reported from the athletes The Blazers have been “informed” that Lillard’s application will be traded to the Heat.
And on Friday, the Blazers and forward Jerami Grant reportedly agreed to a five-year, $160 million contract. Grant was the latest piece from the Portland front office in support of Lillard. The Blazers still plan to sign Grant to that deal when it can become official on July 6, According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The 32-year-old Lillard has always been one of the most prolific scorers in the game, and his 2022-23 campaign was the best season of his career. Lillard’s 32.2 points per game and 64.5% in true shooting last season were both career highs. He added 7.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 36.3 minutes on the night for a 33-win team.
Over 11 seasons in Portland, Lillard has averaged 25-4-7 (on 44/37/90 shooting). Each of those points – rebounds – has surpassed his passes in three of the past four years. Lillard was healthy for the first decade of his career, never missing more than nine games in any one season, and the Blazers made the playoffs every year from 2014-21, culminating with a Western Conference Finals appearance in 2019.
In the past two years, Lillard has missed a total of 77 games (twice the amount he missed in his previous 10 seasons), and Portland failed to make the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since he was drafted. Lillard missed the final 47 games of the 2021-22 season due to an abdominal injury that required surgery. He sat out the last 10 games of last season with a calf injury that also cost him three weeks earlier in the season.
It is up to debate how much of Lillard’s absence can be attributed to Portland’s eagerness to enter a better position in the lottery. The Blazers drafted Shaedon Sharpe with the No. 7 pick in 2022, and they moved to third place in this year’s draft pick guard Scoot Henderson. The youth movement did not match Lillard’s competition schedule.
Questions have been raised about Lillard’s commitment to the Blazers every year since their first consecutive opening-round exits in 2020 — and maybe even earlier. Each season, Lillard has reaffirmed his loyalty to Portland, even through separate 2021 controversies that include the firing of general manager Neil Olschi and the hiring of head coach Chauncey Billups. The trade in February 2022 for Lillard’s backcourt partner, CJ McCollum, did not dent his belief in Portland’s ability to build a winner.
When asked in September 2022 if he still envisions himself spending his entire career in Portland, he said: Lillard told Dave Bash’s podcast, “I do.” He called himself “the naturally loyal one” who rejected repeated urges from people around him to seek a trade, feeling that chasing the title elsewhere would be less rewarding.
“I feel we have a chance to win,” he added. “I feel like that moment will come. I feel like that opportunity will come, and that’s it. As long as I feel like our organization is doing the best they can and we’re on the same page about doing everything we can do to win, I’m ready to come out swinging… I want to win in Portland.” It would mean something to me to do it here. There’s some importance to me, and I don’t win.” I’m not going to say it with the expectation that they can’t one day decide, “Well, we want to move on. What do you want to do?” This is being true to who I am, what I feel and what I want to happen. I would like to end my career here. This is my plan, and that’s it.”
The switch from McCollum to a much younger shooting guard, Anfernee Simons, as well as a pair of top 10 draft picks, suggests the Blazers are no longer giving their best shot to win now.
It took Lillard seven years to win two playoff runs in a season, though he entered the NBA as a four-year starter at Weber State and made the first of his seven All-NBA rosters in his second campaign with the Blazers. Sharp, who turned 20 in May, graduated early from high school, redshirted his freshman year at Kentucky and entered the 2022 draft without ever playing a game at the collegiate level.
Our first indication that Lillard’s confidence in the Blazers may have been waning came earlier in June, when he presented several trade scripts on Showtime’s “The Last Stand Podcast.” When asked about hypothetical trades for four rumored destinations — the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Miami Heat and New York Knicks — Lillard publicly favored the Heat and Nets, given the special relationships with Bam Adebayo and Michael Bridges and the two teams’ roster build. These teams are now in the lead after requesting a trade. However, Lillard said on the podcast that he expects to start the 2023-24 season in Portland.
With Simons, Sharpe, Henderson, and future assets, Portland can pursue star-level players and continue to restructure the roster around Lillard. The idea that the franchise and its greatest talent ever seem more comfortable turning the page should give suitors pause about paying Lillard $63.2 million when he turns 36. His championship window may be shorter than his current contract.
However, Lillard’s ability is beyond temptation. He is a proven playoff commodity, averaging 34.3 points in his most recent series and Twice ending the season discount On the chain-winning bell. He just didn’t have the horses to run with. Lillard hasn’t played with an All-Star since LaMarcus Aldridge in 2015, when he won 51 games. McCollum was easily Lillard’s best teammate in the eight years that followed, and they also won 50 games together – despite a rotation of wingers and a series of injuries to center Jusuf Nurkic.
Nurkic owes $54.4 million over the next three seasons, a contract that ranks among the most restrictive in the league. So, this summer was bound to be one of the big changes for Portland. The Blazers had their choice of reloading or rebuilding, and their decision made Lillard a lot easier.
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