Report: Portland Trailblazers Star Damian Lillard Has Been In Multiple Trade Rumors. Should The Portland Trailblazers Consider To Trade Their Franchise Player?

The Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks have expressed interest in attaining Damian Lillard from the Portland Trailblazers. For years, Damian has been a superb point guard who should receive a lot more credit than he gets. From his impressive shooting ability to his underrated athleticism, Damian Lillard has been the face of the Portland Trailblazers for years while also being the second-best point guard in the NBA behind Stephen Curry. Damian has managed to lead the Blazers to the playoffs almost every season since the moment he was drafted but would fail to exit the first or second round. However, in the 2019 NBA playoffs, Damian Lillard shocked the world and led his team to the Conference Finals, where the Golden State Warriors would sweep him. It was a tough defeat as some people believed that the Blazers had their greatest chance to reach the NBA finals and potentially win the Larry O’Brien trophy with Damian Lillard. Furthermore, the Blazers that series always had a lead but would throw it away by the third quarter where Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry would play one of their best playoff series in their incredible career! 

Damian Lillard has been an icon in Portland and has numerously expressed to the media that this is the organization he wants to represent until he retires. Even though he is from Oakland, Portland is where his basketball dream began. As far as the organization, the Blazer’s front office has been adamant in keeping Lillard and continue to believe that he can be the ideal piece to lead the Blazers to victory and one day win a championship. But after last season and their dreadful series against the Golden State Warriors, can the Portland Trail Blazers still rely on this fantasy or is it time to move on? 

In the last 20-30 years, organizations in the NBA have experienced incredible successes and drastic failures. From Shaq and Kobe to Tracy McGrady and Grant Hill, some organizations have become incredibly successful with the players that they developed or drafted while others face the complete opposite. For the Los Angeles Lakers, they decided to make a bold decision and trade for an 18-year old with no college basketball experience to be their next potential superstar. That player was Kobe Bryant, who would win three championships with Shaq and two more with Pau Gasol. The Lakers would also be the recipient of being regarded as arguably the team that would make the most significant draft-night trades in NBA history! However, organizations have attempted to construct similar situations but miserably failed. An example of this would be the Orlando Magic in their first 15-20 years of being a franchise. The Magic drafted well, signed reliable free agents, and made great trades, but their front office was their biggest demise. When Tracy Mcgrady joined the Magic, he wasted his prime with a dysfunctional organization and never made it past the first round. Mcgrady would spend his prime in Orlando and join the Houston Rockets, where his career would flash right before his eyes. The Magic would lose on getting any value out of him, and as far as Tracy Mcgrady, he would be regarded as one of the greatest players in NBA history to not only never win a title, but also waste his prime on a team that had no direction. The Portland Trailblazers are in a similar situation with Damian Lillard. Even though they have a vision of what direction they want to pursue, their execution has been a failure. For decades, the NBA has seen a fair share of players like Tracy Mcgrady, hence why loyalty is such a blurred concept for most athletes. But for Damian, he insists on staying in Portland and continues to represent a team with good ideas and direction but is terrible at executing them. 

If Damian Lillard wants to be regarded as one of the greatest point guards to ever play in the NBA, he would need to be traded in a situation where he can compete for a championship and average 25 points per game. His love for Portland is strong and inspiring, but this needs to happen if he wants to go further. As history shows, organizations will not hesitate to trade a player away if it benefits the ownership and the team’s success. Even though Portland is satisfied with Damian Lillard being the primary superstar, that mentality could change if an opportunity appears. When Kawhi Leonard was moved from untouchable to tradeable, the Toronto Raptors swooped in and traded their franchise corner-stone player for one season of Kawhi, who would end up leading Toronto to their first-ever championship victory. If a similar opportunity appeared, the Portland Trailblazers would do the same and trade Damian Lillard away with no hesitation because business will always come first. NBA players need to start realizing this and take their careers and gaols first before pleasing an organization that could potentially trade you the next day. When Kevin Durant signed with the Warriors, it was a weak move, but at least Durant expressed his goals in winning a championship even if it made him look weak. 

Having a loyal player as the face of your franchise is scarce in the modern era of basketball. With only a limited selection of loyal superstars, the reason why it has changed over the years is due to an organization displaying what they are, which is a business. In the 2000’s, players such as Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, and Tim Duncan, who are all future Hall of Famers, have only represented one organization and were successful. In the modern era, even if that player is very successful within the organization, they are still unsafe and could be traded tomorrow. Damian Lillard is displaying nobleship to the city of Portland; however, he is also tarnishing his chance of winning a championship and solidifying his chance of being a Hall of Famer. The Blazers have failed to build around him as the players they obtained from free agency or traded for were Hassan Whiteside, Jusuf Nurkic, Carmelo Anthony, Rodney Hood, and Seth Curry. Those players are solid but are not enough to help win Damian Lillard win a championship. Therefore, the Blazers should take into consideration to hit the reset button and trade Damian Lillard away to a title-contending organization like the Los Angeles Lakers or Milwaukee Bucks. If Damian wants to win, he needs to go elsewhere because the Portland Trailblazers are currently not even in the playoffs!