Damian Lillard Says He's Giving The Blazers This Summer To Get Their Shit Together Or He Might Have To Make A Decision About His Future
Kevork Djansezian. Getty Images.
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As I said a few weeks ago the last time we had some Damian Lillard drama surrounding his future, there's really only one way to describe this situation
It's getting a little ridiculous at this point. One minute Chris Haynes (a Dame guy) is putting out another interview feature talking about how Dame is loyal to Portland and doesn't want to leave. Then Dame says he's fully committed himself. But then he has quotes that suggest maybe the time has come. Then we get more comments like what he said to Stephen A in that clip. If he's in, why does he leave room open for an exit? If he wants to leave, why not just turn his key?
There are only so many options available for the Blazers to make "drastic" improvements anyways. We'll see what they end up doing with that lottery pick, maybe they can flip that and pieces and bring something back, because the free agent market is……not great. Who is the savior that's coming to Portland?
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The Blazers are projected to have around $21M in cap room, and that doesn't even account for the cap holds of Jerami Grant, Cam Reddish, Thybulle, and Justise Winslow. What type of "significant improvements" is Dame even expecting? Unless something is coming via trade, I'm not sure I see a path that makes all that much of a difference.
I wonder if it's because he's talked so much about never leaving Portland to the point where it's part of his whole brand as a player if that's the reason he won't just pull the plug. He's certainly not getting any younger and is still playing at an extremely high level so who could blame him. Personally I've always loved how he refused to ever leave because I think having unique franchise icons like that is pretty cool and ultra rare in today's basketball world. But clips like that with Stephen A sound more like he's laying groundwork than anything else, and that's too bad.
It's a tough spot for the franchise. Given Dame's age, how much of your future are you willing to give up right now to bring in pieces that don't guarantee you a title? Does that mean unloading someone like Anfernee Simons? Because it sounds like he wants impact players, and impact players are expensive. Especially when the other team knows you don't have too much leverage because if you don't do the trade then Dame bounces.
So what do you do if you run Portland right now? I think you first ask Dame for realistic options. Less stuff like this
and more things that are way more logical for the team to pull off. If his demands are truly unrealistic options, then I guess you have to trade him and fully commit to your rebuild.
My guess is this is far from the last time we'll hear about this story over the next few months, because like Dame said, it basically all comes down to what the team does this summer. When arguably the greatest player in your franchise's history is talking like that, it usually means something big is coming one way or the other.