“If Damian Lillard leaves Portland then so do I”: Jusuf Nurkic puts the Blazers front office on blast by calling them ‘stupid’ for thinking of letting Lillard go

Jusuf Nurkic lets it be known that if Damian Lillard leaves Portland then he’ll walk as well; calls Blazers stupid for perhaps letting him leave. 

The Portland TrailBlazers have found themselves to be in a bit of a pickle these past few days. The Damian Lillard era in Portland may be coming to a close as several reports have come out claiming there’s been a significant amount of distance between Dame and the Blazers front office throughout the time that they were looking for a head coach. 

One fact that is known to be true is that Damian Lillard had a significant amount of pull on the Blazers in terms of deciding who gets to be their bench boss this coming season. Jason Kidd was his first option with Chauncey Billups also being a favorite of his.

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However, Dame has been on the receiving end of backlash from Portland and NBA fans alike for supporting the hiring of Billups, a man who went to trial on accusations of rape about 20 years ago. He eventually took to Twitter and told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports that he, not only did not know about Billups’s past, but was not involved in his hiring. 

Jusuf Nurkic will leave the Blazers if Damian Lillard gets traded. 

In all fairness to Neil Olshey and the Blazers front office, Damian Lillard was very much involved in the hiring of Chauncey Billups, despite him denying it through Chris Haynes. Regardless, the disconnect between the franchise and their franchise superstar is starting to become apparent as the offseason creeps 2021 closer. 

Jusuf Nurkic has also put in his two cents in this matter and said, “I don’t know what changed with Lillard in these two days. As far as I know, the man stays there, but if he goes, then I leave Portland as well. My opinion is that it would be stupid to let such a loyal man as Lillard go.”

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Nurkic and Dame have become quite close ever since the former made his way to Oregon, with him even hanging out with Lillard and his son on multiple occasions. Seeing a close friend be traded away after 9 years of loyalty would surely rub Nurkic the wrong way.