The NBA has changed drastically over the years with many teams trying out different strategies to win the Championships. While some have tried out bringing in three superstars together in a team, some have shown trust in their existing superstar to deliver the results.
However Damian Lillard is one of a kind as he is on eof the only players to stay in a same franchise for more than a decade. Lillard has received offers every season to leave the Portland Tail Blazers but the guard has stayed on even though he still does not have that prestigious Championship ring.
His name comes up in so many trade discussions and yet he feels that moving to another team is not the right move just to win a Championship. Hence Lillard remains uninterested in most of the trade discussions.
Lillard spoke about his legacy in his recent interaction with JJ Reddick’s Old man and The Three podcast. Lillard feels fans have a short memory and they won’t be remembering him when he retires. He believes fans will remember the newer stars likes of Luka Doncic, Ja Morant, Jayson Tatum, etc.
“When my career is over, y’all are not about to be talking about me. Y’all are about to be talking about Luka Doncic, Ja Morant, Jayson Tatum, whoever when I’m done playing. They’ll talk about me when they say ‘who had the most 40 or 50 point games or Portland or whatever,” Lillard said.
The Portland Trail Blazers superstar feels tha the fans wouldn’t take care of him or even think about him once the camera is off. He shares how the fans don’t know about his life or anything else. He also adds how the fans don’t even care about Michael Jordan once he has retired.
“But like why am I going to be sitting here overly concerned with everything that every person has to say about me when they don’t know my life. They don’t think about me when they get off of that camera, when I’m done playing they won’t think about me.
“They don’t think about you. They don’t think about Michael Jordan!”
Lillard shared that today’s league is a lot different from what he saw when he was growing up. There is more emphasis on player empowerment and winning championship than anything else. Players nowadays would go to any extent to win a Championship.
“The NBA I play in now is not the NBA that I came into. And I expect it to evolve, everything is constantly changing. … I understand we play to win championships, we all want to win a championship. We can’t keep acting like nothing matters, like the rest of the stuff the journey doesn’t matter, we can’t keep doing that,” Lillard shared.
Currently the Trail Blazers are 13th in the Western Conference with an underwhelming 31-37 record. They are pushing for a spot in the playoffs but for that Lillard will have to be at his best.
