The Portland Trail Blazers and Damian Lillard have given up on the 2022-23 season. The 7x All-Star, in his career year, failed to lead his team to enough wins to be in the Top 10 or show any kind of late resilience to perform well if they pushed for it late.
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The Blazers have now shut him down for the rest of the season, so the franchise could get themselves a lottery pick if nothing else, out of this season.
His two straight missed games against the Bulls and the Thunder, just after playing enough games (58) to qualify for All-NBA selection, point to Blazers giving it up.
Speaking of the OKC Thunder, the Blazers’ latest loss against the Oklahoma-based team is their 8th straight since Lillard supposedly made a comment about playing in that city.
NBA Reddit Grills Damian Lillard for going 0-8 against OKC and an old comment
Although Lillard didn’t play in the latest action between the two franchises where Oklahoma came out victorious with a 118-112 win in Portland, NBA Reddit noticed that Dame Dolla’s side has been 0-8 since he said the following on The Draymond Green Show in February 2022.
“Bruh, people going to Oklahoma City, bruh. No offense, but people going to Oklahoma City and people going to Milwaukee.”
To be honest, the man was just talking about other small-market franchises being able to attract some Stars and above-average role players in free agency, but not Portland. That was not a derogatory comment on Oklahoma or Milwaukee.
Was Lillard still right, though?
I fear he was not. Other than Carmelo Anthony, there’s not a single All-Star player since the franchise shifted to Oklahoma who signed there in free agency.
Even the Bucks haven’t gotten any star in the free agency, who hasn’t passed his prime. That too, for a very long time.
But anyway, it cannot be the intention of the Blazers star, who has played and resided his entire NBA career in Portland, to disrespect the small market teams as Thunder Wire comprehended.
