Why Portland Trail Blazer fans are happy Damian Lillard is leaving
It has been a long road for Damian Lillard in Portland, but now it looks like he is leaving the Pacfic Northwest is search of his first NBA title.
Damian Lillard has given his all for the city of Portland and the Trail Blazers organization. He fell in love with RIP City and they have been enamored with him since the first day he put on the black, white and red jersey. Through thick and thin he has stood with Portland, but now finally it seems like they will part ways, and the fans that fell in love with him are now encouraging a move for Dame D.O.L.L.A.
More than a decade out west
On Saturday afternoon, the NBA world stopped as news broke that one of the best scorers in the league, Damian Liilard, finally put in a trade request in Portland which will likely see him on his way out of Oregon for the first time since getting drafted out of Weber State in 2012. It looked like a move that was never going to come to fruition, in large part because of Lillard’s loyalty and stark stance against the new aged NBA and it’s tendency to be filled with super teams.
Dame splashed on the scene in Portland after getting drafted 6th overall to a Trail Blazers franchise that was losing relevance in the league. In the era following the days of Sabonis, Rasheed Wallace, and Damon Stoudemier at the turn of the millennium, the Blazers went to the playoffs six times in the 12 years leading up to drafting Lillard, but they would get KOed in the first round on all six of those occasions.
They finished at the bottom of the West the year before bringing Lillard to Portland, and he came in and immediately brought the buzz back to RIP City winning the Rookie of the Year in 2012. He made the Trail Blazers cool. In a city full of hipsters, he made Portland hip. A team that was easy to follow, despite not being able to keep up with the super teams of the new day and age. And he would continue to do so in spectacular fashion.
Lillard: Super teams “ain’t for me”
The season following his Rookie of the Year campaign, he led the Blazers back to the playoffs and past the first round for the first time since 2000. They would go on to make the postseason eight straight years, but unfortunately this came at a time when the Golden State Warriors had a vice grip on the Western Conference. They would get knocked out of the playoffs by the Warriors on three occasions and against the Lakers in the bubble. LA would go on to win the NBA Championship in bubble to cap of the COVID interrupted season.
While the Warriors aren’t a super team that were put together by free agency and trades, the Lakers were. Damian Lillard was one of the few who spoke out and one of the only stars decline going to a super team to try to build a title winning team at home. “I would never do that,” Lillard said. “I mean I don’t control—if the team decides to trade me somewhere, I can’t control that, but it ain’t for me.”
He wanted to build something special in Portland and give the fans something to cheer about, but the front offices had other things in mind. They never built a team around him to try to really compete for a title. The trading of C.J. McCollum a few years ago was essentially the last straw. The only real second scoring option to New Orleans in exchange for Josh Hart, Tomas Satoransky, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Didi Louzada. No offense to those guys, but they aren’t exactly guys you build a title contender with.
So now that Lillard and the Blazers are looking for the best fit for both him and them, the Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, LA Clippers and the Brooklyn Nets are looking to lure in one of the top scorers in the league. He is and has been against the idea of super teams, but he has earned his right to go to a team without any repercussions or whispers of him going back on his word. He has earned this, and no one would agree with that fact more than Portland fans.
Fans sympathize, back Lillard
Lilliard wasn’t the only one disillusioned by the front offices lack of intent. The fans started to turn on those in the suits and ties knowing that if nothing was done, Lillard and the city would never have a chance to win the title.
While it’s definitely more bitter than sweet for Trail Blazer fans, they have conceded that Dame can finally go chase what he has never been able to in Portland. “Definitely sad. I think it makes sense. It’s probably for the best for the organization and best for him. I hope he finds a good landing spot and is able to be successful. We want him to win a championship, so hopefully we get a lot of picks and can build a young team and build something for the future,” said Portland fan John Farley.
“Loyalty, because he’s such an amazing player he could have gone anywhere much sooner. So, it is amazing to get that many great years out of him,” another fan, Cole Britton said.
Dame will most likely be moving on to a new city, that will most likely be even more of a contender with his addition to the roster. There will no doubt be new fans of Dame D.O.L.L.A. wherever he lands, and the fans of Portland will no doubt be pulling for him from a far.