Damian Lillard publicly confirmed for the first time he requested a trade from the Portland Trail Blazers
“I can say that there was [a trade request] and I would just prefer not to speak on the Trail Blazers,” said Lillard to Marc J. Spears.
On July 28, the NBA sent out a memo to all 30 teams stating that if Lillard and his agent Aaron Goodwin made any future comments, privately to teams or publicly, suggesting Lillard will not “fully perform the services called for under his player contract in the event of a trade,” he would be subject to discipline by the league.
Lillard could be subject to league discipline for publicly acknowledging the trade request.
Lillard declined to comment on what ultimately led to the trade request.
“I’m not going to speak on the Blazers. It’s lot of love and respect, but I won’t speak on the Blazers.”
Lillard prefers a trade to the Miami Heat, but talks have not yet progressed.
“It’s higher than it’s ever been,” said Lillard on his motivation to win a title. “When you’re younger and you’re winning, you realize that you got time. When you establish yourself in the league and you know that you’re here to stay, you feel like you have time. The older you get, that just means more time that you’ve put into it, especially when you’re at the top of the game and you’re having all these individual accomplishments, it becomes more and more of a priority to have the ultimate accomplishment, which is why we play the game, in winning the championship.
“I would say the desire for that now is as high as it’s probably going to be. That’s literally the thing at the top of my list. When I wake up and I got to get up and go do what I got to do, I got to train, I got to make time for my kids, I still got to lift, I got to do all these things and I got to make sure that training and the preparation is still my priority. Even with being a father of three now, not one, and having all these other responsibilities, you need something that you feel pretty strong about to stay committed the way I’ve been committed. It’s as high as it’s going to get. That’s ultimately what I want to experience and that’s what I want to get done.”
Regardless of the outcome, Lillard plans to stay rooted in Portland.
“I love the city of Portland,” Lillard said. “Every initiative that I’ve started, I’ll continue and I’ll finish regardless of anything. The love will be that because the way I’ve said I feel about Portland is how I feel about Portland. I say what I mean and I mean what I say. It’s been fine. It’s been what it’s always been …
“[Portland-area residents] just tell me they love me. That’s literally what they say. ‘Dame, we love you. We thank you for everything.’ That’s the dialogue. It’s pretty simple and to the point.”
