The Portland Trail Blazers and star guard Damian Lillard have been heading towards an increasingly public, increasingly vocal crossroads for months. Lillard wants to play for a contending team as he works through the latter prime of his career. The Blazers made moves to get younger this season, looking more like a rebuilding roster than a contending one. The pot rose to a boil as the Blazers finished the season with 33 wins, clearly aiming for the NBA Lottery instead of an NBA Championship. In exit interviews and on national broadcasts, Lillard outlined the growing dichotomy between his own career arc and the momentum of the franchise he’s played with for over a decade.
Damian Lillard Says He Doesn’t Want to Be on “Middle-Tier” Team Either
