Damian Lillard Once Again Denied The Reports That He's Going To Demand A Trade

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So this has obviously been the biggest NBA story of the day that has pretty much captivated Twitter since those "reports" came out early this morning. Everyone has a source that says Dame wants to go to Team X, other people have a source that says he's not leaving. Jusur Nurkic lost his shit on Twitter, it was a wild morning. We all basically were waiting for Team USA practice to end so Dame could speak for himself. As you can see, he denied it, said it wasn't true and that he hasn't made any firm decision on his future. That's still a little concerning because he could have said "Nope, I love Portland, I'm going to stay here forever" and he didn't. For a guy with a guaranteed extension about to kick in, you would think he would have a firm decision on his future if he was going to stay. At the same time, maybe he's utilizing his leverage to make sure his franchise does what they can to improve the team. He talked a lot about urgency and getting over the hump, well nothing should make them feel that sense of urgency than potentially losing their best player.

He also went on to say that this meeting with Billups/GM was always planned, and who knows how accurate that is. I think it's a little unrealistic to think that he was going to step up to the mic and legit say he was demanding a trade, so take it all with a grain of salt. It's not the slam dunk that Twitter made it seem this morning, it doesn't seem like we are "days away" from him demanding a trade, especially when he said this

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To me it's pretty simple. He wants shit to change and the front office to stop dicking around and bring in better talent. If not, he'll probably end up leaving at some point. 

So while this presser should make Blazers fans feel a little bit better after the day they've had, I wouldn't say they are in the clear just yet. Anything can happen between now and the start of next season. Free agency hasn't even begun yet. You're kidding yourself if you think this is the last time we'll do this dance on the internet. There will be another reporter with a "source" who fires this back up again and around and around we'll go until he's either traded or flat out says he does not want to be traded and wants to stay in Portland.

This has to be torture for Blazers fans though. I feel for them.