#damian lillard blazers

[pokemonwearingsportsmerch]

[the-football-chick]

[doublescribble]

Damian Lillard and Jabari Smith Jr.

[rickeajacksons]

©️ sam forencich

[blackmensuited]

[fruitbasketball]

HELL YEAH WE (the bucks) GOT DAME

motherfucker what is this

what happened to miami

i’ve been tweaking over this for the past hour brother WHAT

okay giannis dame duo… i guess

woj don’t give me a heart attack challenge

[allpromarlo]

i'm kinda hoping blazers get messy and trade dame somewhere other than miami idk...

[mjordan-nba-nhl]

DAMIAN LILLARD | Portland Trail Blazers

[allathlete]

The greatest Portland Trailblazer guards... After scoring 71 points, I was curious as to where Dame Time ranked in Portland's history.

I remember Clyde-the-Glide and couldn't believe, as great as Dame is, that he has surpassed Clyde as the greatest Trailblazer.... yet

I think of other great guards like Brandon Roy and what could have been and Damon Stoudamire and even one of Dame's teammates in McCollum - but Dame has to surpassed these greats.

But has he eclipsed Drexler? I'm not sure.

[marmarlad]

(This won’t be interesting to anyone but me)

I have an accidental deep love for Damian Lillard, the star of the Portland Trail Blazers. Never lived in Portland and I got plenty to root for in the Sixers and the Warriors but — when we moved to the west coast, we started watching western conference basketball and happened to catch the Blazers a lot.

I could talk for a long time about why I love Dame, including his ridiculous and amazing wedding outfit when he married his COLLEGE SWEETHEART, but the thing that really cemented it for me was this interview he gave after a game in early 2021. He's unusually talkative in it and even though he's speaking about ball, everything he says inspired the shit out of me & my creative practice:

"I think it's just putting a lot of time into it. [...] You do it with focus, you do it while you holding yourself to a certain standard ... when you tired and probably don't wanna do it."

"...I take a step forward and then another step forward to try to impose myself, instead of playing it safe and wondering what could go wrong. ...If it goes wrong, I'm willing to take that blame. I'm willing to shoulder whatever somebody gotta say about it."

"I had to do my work behind the scenes. [...] I know what it's like to be unknown and not have the lights on you and wanna be seen [...] I don't forget the thing that makes [my fame] possible which is the work, the discipline, the humility, the compassion, you know, all of those things that I know I bring as a person. I know that's a part of why I've been able to get a lot of the things I've gotten. [...] So I've gotten stronger in those things, I've gotten more disciplined, I work harder, I work smarter, you know, I love on my people harder."

But the real reason for this post is the fact that today is the NBA trade deadline. Last night, minutes before a game, the Blazers found out their teammate Josh Hart had been traded. Someone got a picture of Dame reacting to the news and I've never seen him look so surprised, so shook, so vulnerable. I dunno y'all. It's extremely moving for me to see this from a dude who is my epitome of professional poise and badassery.

[brun00u11]

[basketballbicker]

Here are the Top 10 most points in an NBA playoff game, including the Chicago Bulls' six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan. NBA top 10 list.

[247liveculture]

Portland Trail Blazers trade Damian Lillard in a surprising move, shaking up the NBA and sparking anticipation for the upcoming Season.

[rickeajacksons]

© garrett ellwood

[mamenchisaurus1717]

About Damian Lillard And His Trade Request

For those who are unaware, Damian Lillard requested a trade from his team, the Portland Trail Blazers. This came the day after Portland signed good-but-not-great forward Jerami Grant to a five year, $160 million contract, a massive overpay for him.

Now, I've heard a lot of people criticizing Dame for this, saying that he 'screwed the Blazers' because of his trade request right after the horrible Jerami Grant signing. However, I feel like the situation is a lot more complicated than this. (This next part will be speculation from my part.)

The fact that Lillard requested a trade from Portland so soon after Jerami's signing makes me think that Dame was actually holding out hope for Portland, justifying playing with the young Scoot Henderson if Portland built a solid roster around the two. This has historical precedent, since Lillard has wanted to stay in Portland for what seems like ages.

However, with Portland making a terrible decision to sign Jerami Grant to a contract worth $32 million a year (the salary cap in the NBA this year, for comparison, is $136 million), Lillard would probably be very disappointed. He'd react just like many of the fans did at the move: WHY??? PORTLAND, WHY DID YOU DO THAT??

In that context, he would realize that Portland was not actually making an attempt to build a contender, just an attempt (and a poor one, at that) to appease him. It makes sense that he'd request a trade the next day.

I will admit that Dame isn't innocent. Recently, Dame has been unusually passive-aggressive with Portland's offseason moves, which has bled into his trade request (which, honestly, feels more like a demand of 'Send me to Miami or else'). This, in turn, has completely flipped public perception from 'the guy that everyone loves' to 'very hateable', with a few people still clinging to the guy that we've seen before the trade.

Perhaps Lillard feels entitled to get a trade where he wants to go, after seeing years of it happening before and the loyalty he had shown the organization for such a long period of time. Or maybe it's just frustration from an organization that has consistently not built a contender around Lillard. Either way, with the NBA's current state it's unlikely that he'll be able to go to the place he wants, even if Portland wanted to give him the right sendoff.

Either way, this situation is really, really messy. I don't think you can point fingers at who's in the wrong or in the right here. Obviously Portland should have communicated with Lillard about their plans to rebuild, so that Dame could request a trade sooner rather than get his hopes up for free agency. Dame should have also requested a trade sooner anyways, since it was obvious by the Scoot Henderson pick that the Trail Blazers were planning to rebuild.

tl;dr: blazers signed jerami grant, i think dame saw that as the last straw, dame asked for a trade but then only gave miami as a potential suitor, a very messy situation comes

[fruitbasketball]

Where is Dame Going?