Photo by Steph Chamber/Getty Images

Damian Lillard Made It Clear That He Wants To Be In Portland, Amidst Trade Rumors

Damian Lillard was always considered to be a successor of Dirk, Tim and Kobe – someone to remain with his franchise for the entirety of his career. Dirk’s loyalty and the loyalty Dallas gave back to Dirk is something Damian Lillard always drew inspiration from anyways.

While Lillard hasn’t officially requested a trade from the Portland Trail Blazers yet, they’ve done their best to trigger one in the coming weeks, after striking out in free agency once again by failing to surround Lillard with championship contending talent.

But now, in an interview with Complex, Lillard pushed away the trade rumors and made it clear that he not only wants to be in Portland, but also wants to win a Championship there.

“We lose to Denver – they were unhealthy – I’m frustrated with the loss so I’m like ‘man, we gotta do better!’ I’ve always said I wanna play in Portland, I wanna win in Portland. And I still feel this way. So, if I’m saying ‘we gotta do better’, we gotta give ourselves a real chance. If we can’t get out of the first round as we are, we gotta get better. Not from a standpoint of ‘I’m threatening y’all’. If it comes down to me to move on and do something different, then maybe that’s what I have to do. But it was like I haven’t made that decision, but the fact remains: I would like to win a championship in Portland.”