Lillard, last straw: “I won’t join GSW”
Damian Lillard, 33, has publicly requested a trade from the Portland Trailblazers and said he will not be joining the Golden State Warriors.
Lillard spoke about the team he would join in a trade during an appearance on Media Underdog Fantasy’s “IT IS WAT IT IS TALK” on Nov. 19.
Lillard, a seven-time All-NBA team selection, said he would rather lose than join Golden State’s established dynasty.
“I respect what Golden State has done over the last eight or nine years, and I’m from there (California). But I can’t be a part of them,” he said, adding, “They’ve won four championships. Do you think I’m going to try to be on that team?” he asked, rather dismissively.
“No way. I would never do that. I’d rather lose the money I get paid every year than join them,” Lillard said, vehemently denying a move to Golden State.
However, Lillard’s claims are unlikely to be believed by many NBA fans. Lillard’s publicly stated trade destination is the Miami Heat, who reached the NBA Finals last season.
Furthermore, Miami has been to the NBA Finals twice since 2020. In that time, Golden State has only reached the same stage once. Of course, Miami failed to win a championship, and Golden State has added four more rings since Steph Curry joined the team. So Lillard’s argument is a contradiction in terms of not joining one superteam while trying to join another.
Lillard then opened up about Kevin Durant, who joined Golden State from the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016.
“If I was in his shoes, I wouldn’t have done it,” he said, adding that he would not make the same decision as Durant, saying, “Golden State had already won a championship before he got here, and that’s not something I would do.”
At the time, Durant’s move caused a stir and drew criticism from fans of other teams outside of Golden State, but it’s fair to ask whether what Lillard is doing is more deserving of criticism than Durant’s actions.
Although Durant joined the team that defeated him in the Western Conference Finals, he left Oklahoma City as a free agent. In contrast, Lillard requested a trade less than a year after signing a two-year extension last year.카지노사이트
After years of emphasizing that he would never ask for a trade and that he always wanted to stay in Portland, Lillard’s logic crumbled after he requested a trade in July.
Given Portland’s history, it’s hard to blindly assign blame to Lillard, but it’s clear that he’s going to have to abandon his past declarations that he’s not going to join a superteam.