In the wake of a few cryptic tweets sent from his Twitter account and another round of speculation that the Lakers may want to acquire him, Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard set the record straight during a conversation with reporters on Sunday. As Jason Quick of NBC Sports Northwest writes, Lillard dismissed the idea that he’s dissatisfied in Portland or that he wants to play elsewhere.
“I’m straight up. I’m straight up with coach, I’m straight up with (president of basketball operations) Neil (Olshey), straight up with you all,” Lillard said. “I’m not unhappy. I love where I live. I love the organization. I love our coaching staff. I love where I am.”
The Lillard tweets that fueled speculation about his possible unhappiness were published after word broke that Ed Davis would sign with the Nets on a fairly modest one-year, $4.4MM deal. While the standout point guard admitted that he and the Blazers will miss Davis, along with other free agents like Shabazz Napier and Pat Connaughton, he said he’s eager to see who will step up with those players gone.
“Obviously, I loved Ed,” Lillard said, per Quick. “He was one of my best friends in the league; one of favorite teammates I’ve played with. We lose him – that’s a loss for our team. ‘Bazz played big minutes for us, Pat played big minutes for us – so we lose three rotation players that gave us a lot and contributed to our season last year. But I guess now we look forward to who can come in and replace those minutes and give us that type of quality.”
The Trail Blazers signed Nik Stauskas and Seth Curry in free agency in the hopes of adding more shooting. The team will also lean on second-year big man Zach Collins for a larger role. Lillard said on Sunday that he expects Collins to “make a huge leap” in his sophomore year, and added that rookies Anfernee Simons and Gary Trent Jr. are “both impressive,” as Joe Freeman of The Oregonian details.
Lillard, who has been a Blazers since entering the league in 2012, remains under contract with the franchise through the 2020/21 season, so he’s unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon.
Lilliard is 1st team all NBA. Like Kawhi, it would take a ton to get him. Portland has said, like Houston with Harden and CP3, it would like to keep McCollum and Lilliard.
Agreed. Lillard would have to demand a trade to get moved. Star players with 3 years left on their deals dont get traded.
I hate when the media assumes that because a player MIGHT be unhappy with losing or are just in a small market that automatically they should be traded away to one of the larger markets. There’s nothing Lillaird said that sounds like he wants to be traded. LA fans just make stuff up. And by “LA fans” I really mean the media as they all seem to have a bias to want to see stars depart from small market cities to go towards wherever LBJ is, Boston, Mia or NYC.
How about we don’t pretend like Dame didn’t know what he was doing when he tweeted, “I’m typically a happy camper”. I know its popular these days, but let’s not blame the media for everything
Dude his tweet was a direct response to a question posed to him asking (not verbatim) “How he would feel if the Portland Trail Blazers traded him to Los Angeles to play with LeBron James. His reply was that he was happy in Portland. How is that a cryptic message? He went further stating he wanted to stay in Portland. The media tried to draw something more from his statement but I think he made himself clear, that he would like to stay in Portland and compete.
See what this season pans out for him and his Trailblazers, then we’ll see how “happy” he is.
On a side note, it’s good to see the name “Anfernee” back in the NBA #OldSchoolPennyHardawayBaby
If anything this story is mostly about a star being happy to stay where he is but wanting the team to desperately improve the team and make any decision on who they trade/let walk be about bringing in something better vs being cap conscious. Being cap conscious in some ways DOES factor into allowing yourself to acquire players once the right one becomes available but with some owners it’s just about saving themselves money. Some owners are content with being a 41 win team so long as the fans still show up and support.
The cap is killing Portland, and is hurting Capela in Houston now.
They should have spent 5 on Davis. Happened so quickly though. Maybe Davis did not like the Blazers like they liked him?
Then the expense to upgrade the backup guards instead of the depleted front line, hmm. This does give Collins and Swanigan more space and PT but I would have added Bates-Diop or Spalding for instance in the draft.
Lillard might be wondering more urgently than me, but nice to reassure folks.
What can they do to improve? They have 3 contracts for 80.67M over 2 years that they cant move. Cap space for this year is dwindling. Who would take on ET, Leonard, or Harkless? Stretching them all is 16.13M for the next 5 years total. They do not have the cap space to operate until 20-21.
Trade Lillard and CJ get as many assets as you can, primarily picks. This roster is at best 4 seed, at worst lottery.
I really don’t get people. Does anyone want to compete any more Z-A? A 4th seed isn’t bad. Yes, getting past GSW and Houston is a daunting task but fans act as if the season is an absolute loss if you’re not penciled in to be a #1 or #2 in your division. They have both their stars under control for 3 years. So much can happen in 1 season. Injuries. Departures. I’m happy to hear that Lilliard wants to try and win in Portland. OBVIOUSLY, he wants the team to do more. That’s on them. But if you can be a 4 seed in the West then I would go all in. To tear this team down with 2 stars under control in their prime would be the definition of giving up.
Plying Dame away from Portland would be almost impossible, he is happy, wants to stay & he is way better than Kawhi, so looking at what San Antonio is asking for a 1 year rental, with historical bad health, never had a single healthy season in 7 years, what would Portland ask for a historically healthy player with 3 years left of contract, doesn’t bear to even think, so he is staying, which makes me happy to see him sticking with it instead of ring chasing.
Kings or Sixers 2019, Miami Unprotected, Sixers 21 1st, Pick from Fultz or Smith, Bayless and Chandler for matching.
Don’t forget eye of newt. Abracadabra!
Sixers dont own the Kings 2019 anymore unless it’s the 1st overall pick. And honestly CJ fits their roster more than Dame does