Damian Lillard has proven this 2022-23 NBA season that not only has he fully recovered from his abdominal surgery, but has come back looking better than ever before. He’s currently averaging the most points of his entire career with 30.7 on 46.4% shooting from the field while also dishing out 7.3 assists a night.
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The Portland Trailblazers on the other hand, have not looked like a team that’s doing Dame’s offensive excellence justice. After starting out their season with a 10-4 record and being atop the Western Conference standings, they began to middle and are 26-26 prior to this game against the Chicago Bulls (26-27 now).
A report that was released a while ago stated that the Blazers are fully committed to surrounding Lillard with talent that will help him compete for a championship. However, from the looks of this roster, it feels as though they would need much more than just another role player that fits into their system.
Damian Lillard passes Shaquille O’Neal on a scoring list
Damian Lillard has been on absolute fire these past few games. He’s dropped 40+ points 4 out of the last 6 games the Portland Trailblazers have played (including a 60 point game against the Utah Jazz) and has dropped 40 yet again tonight in their bout against the Chicago Bulls.
All of these high scoring games have resulted in the Blazers all-time great passing Shaquille O’Neal for having the most 40+ point games in NBA history. What makes this even more impressive is the fact that ‘The Big Aristotle’ played in 19 seasons in the league as compared to Dame’s 11.
Lillard has exactly fifty 40-point games attached to his name and has tied his rival from years past, Russell Westbrook, in this number. The next man for him to catch will be Adrian Dantley, who has fifty-two such games with 40 or more points.
.@Dame_Lillard has 40 points in tonight’s game at Chicago, passing Shaquille O’Neal to tie Russell Westbrook at the No. 18 spot for the most games with 40-plus points in NBA history (50).
He has also tied LeBron James at the No. 6 spot for most games with 30-plus points (21).
— Trail Blazers PR (@TrailBlazersPR) February 5, 2023
Will the Blazers be buyers at the trade deadline?
The Portland Trailblazers most certainly will be buyers at this year’s February 9th trade deadline. It’s clear that they want to compete for a title and with Dame having signed a $122 million extension that extends well into his 30s, the time to do so is now.
Jarred Vanderbilt has been a name that has been attached to the Blazers for some time now. He’d fit on the roster quite well at their 5 given that Jusuf Nurkic hasn’t looked like his former self as of late.
However, the big fish here is obviously Kevin Durant. There has been 0 reporting on the ‘KD to Blazers’ front and in fact, there’s been 0 reporting on KD even wanting out. However, teams seem to be more interested in acquiring him depending on his reaction to the Kyrie Irving trade request than actually going after Kyrie.
Dame did try to recruit KD to the Blazers quite blatantly when he posted an edit of him in a Blazers uniform next to him this past offseason. So it’s safe to say that he 100% wants Durant on the roster next to him.
