Only five months ago, Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard was telling reporters he wanted to someday be known as ‘the best Trail Blazer ever.’ That statement came just about two years after he talked of being a part of an the Blazers’ organization for his entire career. Yet, this summer, a report surfaced that the Los Angeles Lakers might try to trade for Lillard.
Lillard himself, though, isn’t having such talk and made sure to discourage any notion he is unhappy in Portland. While he was indeed disappointed to see Ed Davis leave via free agency (he signed with the Brooklyn Nets this summer), Lillard is overall pleased with the Blazers and the direction of the team. Joe Freeman of The Oregonian has more:
“I’m not unhappy,” Lillard said Sunday. “I love where I live. I love the organization. I love our coaching staff. I love where I am.”
Lillard spoke to reporters after watching the Blazers’ NBA Summer League game in Las Vegas, where he has been working out in preparation for a USA Basketball minicamp, and addressed a wide range of topics, including Davis’ free agent exodus, the Blazers’ offseason moves and the loaded Western Conference.
He admitted to being upset the Blazers let Davis go. Not only did Davis want to stay in Portland, but Lillard had lobbied for it to happen, saying he hoped the respected and hard-working veteran big man would become Portland’s version of Miami’s Udonis Haslem. But shortly after free agency opened, Davis agreed to a 1-year, $4.4 million deal with the Brooklyn Nets, prompting Lillard to tweet a broken heart emoji.
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“I loved Ed,” Lillard said. “One of my best friend’s in the league (and) favorite teammates I’ve played with. To 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, that contributed to our season last year.”
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At this point, Lillard said, he’s accepted the obvious: The Blazers’ finances and Portland’s reputation among NBA players were to blame for the relative quiet offseason and his path to the playoffs will only be more challenging next season.
“It’s going to be a battle,” Lillard said. “The way I see it, you’re going to have the Golden State’s, the Rockets. We were the third best team in the West and every other team behind us, they brought their guys back. So they’re going to be one more year experienced together, probably going to be a little bit better. Teams like Denver, Utah and Minnesota, all those teams are going to be improved. So, us, we can’t look at free agency and who we didn’t get and (say) we didn’t make this trade and all that stuff. Once the season starts, we’ve got to go. And we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do … we’ve just got to find a way to make it happen.”
In 2017-18, Portland made it to the playoffs for the fifth straight year after finishing the season 49-33 and winning the Northwest Division title for the seventh time in franchise history.
The Blazers were boosted by a 13-game winning streak that started with a victory over the Golden State Warriors just before the All-Star break, and secured the third seed in the Western Conference. The team’s streak matched the franchise record.
Lillard drove the team’s success during that span. In March he averaged 27.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 6.5 assists. He also set a franchise record by making 64 straight free throws. He was named the West’s player of the week twice. And, at season’s end, he was named All-NBA first team for the first time in his career.
Aside from sharing his thoughts on the Blazers’ offseason and his happiness with being in Portland, Lillard also recently commented about the WNBA — specifically how much the league’s players are paid. In an interview at Saturday’s Connecticut Sun vs. Las Vegas Aces game, Lillard spoke with HerHoopStats on Twitter about WNBA wages:
.@dame_lillard on the @WNBA: “They deserve a lot more respect. They deserve to make a lot more money than they do. I think it’s time people start recognizing that they are professional athletes and they should be treated like it and their league should be elevated…”
In addition, Toronto Raptors star guard DeMar DeRozan spoke out about WNBA wages, too, in an interview with HerHoopStats:
.@DeMar_DeRozan: “Women’s game in general is awesome. I think they deserve way more recognition than what they’re getting and tonight’s game is a great example of that. The excitement, how hard they play…” @WNBA #wnba #WatchMeWork pic.twitter.com/rtkxCtkKGO
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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