There has been much speculation about Portland Trailblazers All-star Damian Lillard’s offseason moves during the hiatus. Reports of Damian Lillard viewing Los Angeles Lakers or New York Knicks as a possible destination broke out, however, he seems insistent upon not being a part of a superteam.
Lillard has always been vocal about staying loyal to Portland Trailblazers throughout his career despite the fact that the NBA is heading towards a superteam culture. Supporting the claim, before the monstrous 61-pt game that Damian Lillard had on Tuesday night, ex-teammate Earl J Watson shared a story about a superteam offer that Dame received prior to his contract extension.
Since @Dame_Lillard won’t say it, I will! Before Dame’s last extension he was approached to join a super team! He immediately called me & I’m assuming it’s because he respects me! I asked him, “what do you want to do”?! Cont…
— Earl J Watson (@Earl_Watson) August 11, 2020
He didn’t waste a second before he responded, “Big EJ, I want to stay in Portland, build it with my teammates & beat every mf super team”! My response was, “Real ones do things others are afraid to endure”! Cont…
— Earl J Watson (@Earl_Watson) August 11, 2020
Further, he called out the media giants for their “bullsh*t analytics” that claim Lillard chokes in playoffs. Prior to the Orlando bubble games, ESPN came out with a list of top 50 players in the bubble wherein, he was ranked #11. Several analysts and fans dismissed the rankings claiming it was highly disrespectful to the Trailblazers superstar. EJ Watson took shots at Paul George and Patrick Baverely for “awaking the beast” in Clippers-Blazers games after which Lillard gave back to back 50+ points performance.
Also read: “He is more patient now”-JR Smith Details The Changes in LeBron James As A Laker
Damian Lillard could be the ‘Bubble MVP’
Portland Trailblazers rallied their way past 8th seeded Memphis Grizzlies after the victory over Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night. So far, Damian Lillard has averaged 37.0 ppg in the Orlando Bubble with 9.3 assists at 48% efficiency. Portland struggled throughout the regular season due to crippling injuries. Jusuf Nurkic has been in rehab since 2018-19 playoffs and Zach Collins was sidelined in October after a knee injury. Dame missed a few games right before coronavirus hit the 2019-20 NBA season because of a shoulder injury.
After 7 games in the seeding series, Portland’s position in the western conference is more or less fixed, however, a playoff berth is not yet registered. Currently, Memphis Grizzlies and Phoenix Suns are projected to be within 2 games of Portland, which means a play-in tournament will be organized to conclude Top 8 teams in the west.
Being a higher seed certainly gives Trailblazers an advantage over Grizzlies and Suns in the play-in tournament in addition to years of playoff experience. Although, the first-round matchup against Los Angeles Lakers will be no cakewalk after making it to the playoffs. Veteran Charles Barkley made a bold prediction about Lakers-Trailblazers outcome stating:
“If Portland Trailblazers make it to the playoffs, they will beat Los Angeles Lakers”
“PUT SOME RESPECT ON MY F**KING NAME.” pic.twitter.com/OsnZrnODLB
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) August 12, 2020