Damian Lillard has been loyal to the Portland Trailblazers for a long time. However, Lillard’s loyalty hasn’t exactly translated into championships.
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After yet another disappointing playoff loss to the Denver Nuggets, Damian Lillard may have some serious questions on his minds regarding where he’ll play next year. He put up heroic effort after heroic effort, but he couldn’t take Portland all the way.
His 55 point explosion in game 5 wasn’t even enough to win that game, let alone the series. So, could we see Damian Lillard leave the Portland Trailblazers this offseason? It’s certainly a possibility, and teams have already begun to inquire about the superstar’s availability.
Damian Lillard Has A Blunt Response When Asked About His Future
Lillard isn’t typically the kind of person who’s going to be very vocal about his intentions. In the past, he’s said that he plans to remain 100% loyal to Portland and has even called out superstars for switching teams.
However, his plans might be changing. He averaged a career high 34.3 points per game in a playoff series, played 41.3 minutes per game while shooting 46.3% from the field and 44.9% from three. He did all he could, and the Blazers still lost in 6 games.
Portland already fired their long tenured head coach Terry Stotts in hopes of finding a coach that can take this Portland team to the next level. However, changes need to be made beyond coaching. Jason Quick from The Athletic wanted to gain a deeper perspective of what was going on with Lillard, asking:
So on Monday, I reached out to Lillard via text message and asked him a series of questions: Where his head was at with the Blazers? Where he stood with Neil Olshey, the Blazers’ top executive? And where his mind was long-term in relation to Portland? I also asked: Was he still whole-heartedly on board here, or was he starting to waver?
So, he shot a text, point blank asking Lillard if he was going to move this offseason. Dame made sure to give nothing away, and responded:
“I have no comments about anything.”
Yikes. While that answer doesn’t say anything, sometimes the silence can be far more deafening. The fact that Lillard didn’t commit to staying in Portland means things could be shaking up for an interesting offseason in Portland. Obviously, Dame wants to win, and by struggling to make it past the first or second rounds, he’s grown frustrated:
“I mean, we didn’t win a championship, so obviously where we are now isn’t good enough. I don’t know what a shakeup looks like or what changes will be made or could be made, but obviously as is, it wasn’t good enough. We came up short against a team without their starting point guard and shooting guard.”
