Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen announced earlier this week that he has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma for a second time. Joe Freeman of the Oregonian caught up with the team after head coach Terry Stotts gathered his players Monday after practice to talk about Allen’s health:
”I literally got goose bumps when Coach told us,” Meyers Leonard said Tuesday. “Life is fragile. And you grow accustomed to being around certain people and you think everything’s OK and then, boom, something like this happens out of nowhere.”
For Damian Lillard, whose aunt and grandmother also struggled with cancer, he reached out to Allen through text message to make sure he was okay:
“It’s the kind of news that you never want to hear,” Lillard said.