After Portland’s Tuesday night’s loss against the Clippers, Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley suggested that an “unhappy” Damian Lillard should part ways with the Blazers.
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Damian Lillard has been one of the top players in the league for the past few years. Not only has Dame Dolla been one of the greatest at his job, but Lillard has even showcased his loyalty to the city of Portland for almost a decade now.
Even though the Blazers have made a postseason appearance for the past 8 years, they have advanced to the second round of the playoffs only thrice and the conference finals only once. A player like Damian Lillard should be fighting for the title on a championship-contending team.
Instead, even at the age of 31, the sharpshooter has shown absolutely no sign wavering from his goal of bringing the Larry O’Brien to Portland.
“We all know what a type of player Damian Lillard is, but to me, he isn’t happy”: Shaquille O’Neal
On Tuesday night, the Trail Blazers were handed their 6th loss of the season as the Clippers defeated them 117-109. Lillard’s 27/5/6 performance was a valiant effort, however, was overshadowed by Paul George’s 24-point outing.
After the game, on the sets of “NBA on TNT”, the crew was discussing Dame’s future with the organization and how he should either be demanding some changes from the front office or parting ways with the team. Charles Barkley started:
“I been there before, in my last two years in Philly. It’s hard to play basketball when you’re not all-in. Like, I knew we sucked. I knew I was gonna get great individual accolades, I’m gonna make the All-Star team, but we got zero chance of winning.”
“We’ve seen this movie a lot lately. I think like the last five years. He’s got to leave or they’ve got to bring him in some help. It’s either A or B.”
Shaq too had similar thoughts to Chuck. The former Lakers legend echoed Barkley:
“When you play for an organization, you ask. Like ‘hey, I want this coach, I want this one and that’ and they keep denying you, at some point, it has to get built to a little frustration. I’m not gonna say he’s not committed. We all know what type of a player he is, but to me, he isn’t happy.”
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Currently, the combo-guard is averaging a rather underwhelming 19.3 points, 8.3 assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game. Portland has had a shaky start to this young season with a 5-6 record, to sit 10th in the West.
