“It’s Not True”: Damian Lillard Reacts To His Trade Talks Out Of Portland Trailblazers

Damian Lillard

Damian Lillard has been reported to be in trade conversations very soon, but the Portland star shut down those notions in a recent press conference.

Lillard has played his entire career in Portland, and despite always being a playoff contender, the Trailblazers have failed to take that step into the upper echelon of the NBA world where they’re competing for NBA Finals.

Portland has only made the Conference Finals once during Dame’s career and given their current roster, it doesn’t appear like they’re about to be championship contenders anytime soon.

That notion had people believing that Lillard would want out of Portland this year, but it looks like that’s completely false.

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Damian Lillard Still Hasn’t Decided On His Future, But He Won’t Be Leaving Portland Now

As you saw in the video, Lillard didn’t say that he intends to play his entire career in Portland explicitly, just that the current trade rumors are false.

So, does this mean that Lillard could eventually leave Portland at some point in his career? Definitely. The Portland superstar is currently under contract till the 2024-25 season.

In 2019, Lillard signed a supermax deal with the Blazers that’ll pay him $140 million over the five years he’s signed. This deal also includes a massive $54 million player option in the 2024-25 season.

Given these circumstances, the only way to acquire Lillard right now is through a trade. Either that, or you wait till free agency comes around and hope that Lillard isn’t swooped up by some other time.

Lillard’s comments have to be reassuring for the Blazers. Without him they’d be a very average team, struggling to make the playoffs. At least this way, you get to keep Dame around for some time and build the team to convince him to stay by the time the 2024-25 season comes around.

However, Lillard could want out earlier. While his conference does make it clear that he’ll be back with Portland next season, there’s no guarantee for the season after. If the Blazers disappoint again, would Lillard finally come through and demand a trade? We’ll just have to wait and see.

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Post Edited By: Ashish Priyadarshi
Damian Lillard NBA Portland Trailblazers

About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

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