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The future of Damian Lillard with the Portland Trail Blazers is at an inflection point leading up to the NBA draft with two probable scenarios: either the Blazers trade some sort of package involving the No. 3 pick for a significant win-now piece, or they keep the pick and likely begin the process of trading Lillard.

“Right now it is really up to Portland,” said Shams Charania on the Pat McAfee Show. “Damian Lillard has really left it up to Portland. He wants to be there. He wants that team to get better. They have the No. 3 pick in the draft, they have the No. 23 pick in the draft, they Anfernee Simons…What can you go get in the marketplace to make this team better?

“If nothing comes about, then I do think Damian Lillard will have to look very hard at his future in Portland.

“But if they do make the team better on Thursday night, then I think you’ll see Damian Lillard be there. As much as people want to make this a Damian Lillard thing, it’s really on Portland. The ball is in Portland’s court.”

Lillard has demonstrated a preference publicly to remain with the Blazers, but he has also wants the team to improve after missing out on the playoffs each of the past two seasons.

Anthony Davis was in disbelief when he found out he had been traded by the Los Angeles Lakers to the Dallas Mavericks for Luka Doncic. Davis immediately FaceTimed LeBron James hoping to be filled in with details about what had happened and why. The trade discussions between Nico Harrison and Rob Pelinka were reportedly kept so confidential that the only other parties to have advanced knowledge were Patrick Dumont and Jeanie Buss.

“When it happened, I honestly didn’t know s-,” Davis recalled this week. “He’s been my running mate for six years … so the first thing I wanted to do was call him. … Obviously, I know there are going to be a lot of political things in the front office when they talk to me.

“The front office has to do what it has to do and obviously they’re going to do what’s best for the organization. So I don’t know if I ever got the ‘real’ about any of it. I don’t know what’s true or what’s not, coming from upstairs. So, my thing is I’m gonna go to my counterpart who I’ve been running with and see what’s going on, get his reaction and that’s all it was. We had a conversation. That was it.

“Everybody’s saying nobody knew and all this other s-. I just don’t believe it. But, hey man, I’m past that. I’m ready to move forward with Dallas, try to get a championship there with these guys. First off, getting back on the floor and get ready to compete. All the emotions, that s- lasted that night when it was just a shock.”

Davis also talked about the Lakers wanting Doncic over him and how he’s trying to move on with a new situation for himself and his family.

“They wanted who they wanted. They did what they had to do,” Davis said. “I don’t know if they had to, but it’s what they wanted to do. I moved on. I got a wife and kids to worry about, you know what I’m saying? And I’m figuring out how I’m going to get them to Dallas and get adjusted to that.

“It’s over with, and I’m moving on with my new team and what we got going on.”