“Utah Jazz or Lakers”: When Damian Lillard picked out his favorite team other than Portland Trail Blazers in 2017

Damian Lillard revealed in 2017 that he would have wanted to play for either the Lakers or the Jazz if he wasn’t with the Blazers. 

At this point, most NBA fans agree that, to some level, the Portland Trail Blazers are wasting Damian Lillard’s prime. And honestly, it’s easy to see why.

The roster around Dame is offensively charged from an isolation perspective. However, there is no elite playmaker, which is part of the reason why this team falters in the postseason. Worse though, is their defense.

Both Lillard and CJ McCollum are undersized guards, so defense is not their bread and butter. And with that being the case, the front office needs to look and that and say ‘we will bring in a lockdown defender who can anchor this team’. Instead, the efforts have been half-hearted at best.

After the Blazers lost in the first round of the 2021 NBA playoffs, the player was almost instantly surrounded by rumors. And with several different insiders believing the star could actually leave Portland, perhaps a look at some of his older tweets could give us his next potential destination.

Also Read: Jusuf Nurkic puts the Blazers front office on blast by calling them ‘stupid’ for thinking of letting Lillard go

“Utah Jazz or Lakers”: Damian Lillard confessed which team he would sign with if it wasn’t the Blazers

To be clear here, Damian Lillard is not going to be entering free agency before 2025. However, if this situation is as messy as it looks from the outside, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect for the player to put in a trade request.

If that were to happen, there would undoubtedly be a massive market for him. But, if it were up to the player, where would he sign?

Well, it seems a tweet from 2017 could end up being the perfect answer for this question. Take a look.

If blazers said they didn’t want me… Utah Jazz or Lakers https://t.co/jep3V9qRsS

— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) June 14, 2017

In 2017, perhaps both the Lakers and the Jazz would have been awkward choices. However, today, both these teams are title contenders, and would both be very good fits for the player.

If we really had to choose the better candidate though, we would say it is the Lakers. Their stars in Anthony Davis and LeBron James are elite defenders. There is elite playmaking on this roster as well. And most of all, the thing they really need the most is scoring.

It may not be the likeliest thing in the world right now. But, if the Lakeshow can pull this off, there is no telling what happens next.

Also Read: Kevin Durant has a hilarious back and forth with a fan on Twitter about the Grizzlies star’s viability for Team USA

About the author

Tonoy Sengupta

Tonoy Sengupta is a Senior Editor at The SportsRush. Coming from an athletically inclined family, he has been surrounded by sports ever since he was 4 years old. But, while initially pouring all his time into Football (soccer), at 14, Tonoy discovered basketball through the countless highlights of Stephen Curry humiliating players from Curry Land. And just like that, a fiery passion for the game was ignited within Tonoy. And soon after, he decided to become a student of journalism, graduating in 2022, and choosing sports as his area of interest. Today, you can find him spending 99% of his time browsing through every type of content on every team in the NBA, before uncorking everything he has found to the world. In the 1% he isn't doing this, you can find him playing Basketball, Football, Volleyball, or practically any other sport he has had the opportunity to learn.

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