The D-day of the NBA transfer market arrived, the one in which Damian Lillard has asked to be released from his longtime franchise, the Portland Trail Blazers. According to several American media, the base has made the decision to change the air and has made it known officially today to his team. As reported by ESPN, the Blazers intend to facilitate the exit of its star, so that in the next few days the news of the summer in the NBA can break.
Lillard, Chosen by the Blazers with number 6 in the 2012 draft, he had been threatening to leave for many months. After eight consecutive years in which the Oregon franchise had reached the playoffs for the title, they have not achieved it for two seasons and in an obvious sporting crisis. a little over a week ago they made their choice effective in the draft, number 3, with which they took another point guard, Scott Henderson. A player with star wood, a piece on which to build a winning project. That choice (and not use it in a possible transfer for another star to add to the team now, something that Lillard himself claimed) indicated where the franchise wanted to go in the immediate future. Last Monday the point guard met with the team’s general manager, Joe Cronin, to discuss the direction the team wanted to take.
Player’s favorite optionsaccording to Shams Charania, are the Miami Heat and the Brooklyn Nets, with preference for the former. The names of the Philadelphia 76ers and the New York Knicks, but it doesn’t seem like Lillard has much desire to go to either of these two teams. Also, in the case of the Knicks, they don’t see the arrival of Lillard as the best option to strengthen the team either.
If Lillard’s departure is finally consummated, he will go after eleven seasons in Oregon in which he has been an all star 7 times and has also been chosen 7 times in the best quintets it’s from the season. The team’s best sporting result in all this time was the 2019 Conference Finals, in which they fell to the Golden State Warriors (4-0). Is the player with the most points and the most triples in Blazers history, and the second with the most assists.
Last year, he averaged 32.2 points and 7.3 assists, but was only able to play 58 regular-season games, missing out on the final month of competition. On February 26, against the Houston Rockets, he scored 71 points. The 32.2 points would be the highest amount of a player who changes teams the year after achieving that mark.