Damian Lillard trade rumors: Blazers star plans to ask to leave Portland in the next few days, report says

Damian Lillard’s days as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers may be numbered. The star guard plans to request a trade away from Portland in the coming days, according to True Hoop’s Henry Abbott. Lillard, who just turned 31, signed a contract extension with the Blazers in 2019 and is under contract for the 2023-24 season. However, he is apparently not happy with the state of the franchise, and in turn, he is interested in finding a new home.

From Abbott:

Now a source close to Lillard says that in the coming days he plans to request a trade. If it’s a surprise, you didn’t care. As an organization, the Blazers have been founding since leaving the playoffs. Coach Terry Stotts has been let go. Sources say billionaire Jody Allen is considering selling the team. The Blazers feature prominently in business rumors.

A search for coaching resulted in the debacle of a press conference. CEO Neil Olshey may have cost himself his job by pushing aside his obviously favorite candidate without taking the past rape accusations seriously … Throughout, there have been hints that Lillard’s unconditional loyalty to Blazer could end.

Lillard is currently in Las Vegas with Team USA ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, and is expected to address his future with the Blazers on Friday, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo. In the meantime, he’s made it clear that he believes the Blazers need to improve – from top to bottom.

“I think that’s where we’re at as a team where all of us, not just me, not just my teammates, not just our new coaching staff, the front office, everyone in this organization. must look in the mirror because we constantly run out, ”said Lillard in an interview with Haynes. “We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and say I have to be better because whatever we do isn’t working and it doesn’t give us the chance to compete at the level we want to compete at.”

For Lillard, Portland’s loss to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“Our environment has always been great. We don’t lose a lot, but we were knocked out by a shorthanded Denver team that I thought we should have beaten,” said Lillard. “I just got away really disappointed. I was like, ‘Dude, this just isn’t going to work. “We don’t win the championship, but we have a strong organization. We’re not a franchise that loses every year and gets divided. We have positive seasons, we don’t end with a championship. So I feel like that at this point, I basically made the decision that if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll always be where you’ve always been. ”

It will be extremely interesting to hear what Lillard has to say about the reported trade demand. If he denies the report, maybe his relationship with the Blazers can still be saved. However, if he recognizes it as true, the Blazers will have a very difficult decision to make. They don’t technically to have to trade Lillard if he asks for a trade since he’s still under contract for several more seasons, but if they don’t, they run the risk of things in the locker room going downhill very quickly.

One thing is certain. If Lillard is finally made available in trade talks, there will be no shortage of suitors.