Blazers confirm that their all-time leading scorer Damian Lillard has asked for a trade after 11 seasons in Portland – Basketball Insiders

Season after season, summer after summer, we’ve heard Damian Lillard constantly make himself heard about desiring a real opportunity to compete for the NBA championship, but it seems that after 11-long years in Portland, the Blazers never built a title-contending team around their star player. 

The point guard is a couple of weeks from turning 33 years of age, and he’s decided it’s finally time to end his career in Oregon and head to another team with real possibilities of making it to the Finals. This past weekend, the player officially asked his team for a trade, as announced by franchise GM Joe Cronin.

“We have been clear that we want Dame here but he notified us today he wants out and he’d prefer to play someplace else,” he said through a statement this Saturday. “What has not changed for us is that we’re committed to winning, and we are going to do what’s best for the team in pursuit of that goal.”

Take a look at ESPN’s Brian Windhorst break down the player’s potential landing spots this summer:

Even though Lillard has been vocal about Miami being his preferred destination, he’s also been attracting a lot of interest from the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers, per multiple sources. However, now it’s up to Portland’s front office to decide what’s the best deal they can find for their star athlete.

The veteran guard just came off from a 32.2 point-average campaign, as his performances with the Oregon franchise have earned him seven selections to the All-Star games.

Even though he’s asked his team time and time again to upgrade the roster around him, Lillard has never been close to fighting for the NBA title in 11 years as a Trail Blazers. His squad has only won four playoff series during his spell in Portland, once making it to the Western Finals.

As this has been the only team he’s ever represented in the league, Lillard is their most precious player. Last season he outscored Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler to become the all-time leading scorer in franchise history, and one of three athletes to be selected in the All-NBA first team.

Lillard wants to be remembered for his loyalty, as he stood aside the Trail Blazers for as long as he did

“I would say I want to be remembered for who I was, not as a player, but the principle that I stood on regardless of how successful I was, how major the failure was, the criticism, what people thought I should have did, what people think of me … no matter what was happening, I want to be remembered for who I was,” Lillard said at the start of the year.

“I stood tall. I’ve stood tall in every situation and I want to be remembered for that.”

Even though Portland just selected guard Scoot Henderson as the No.3 overall pick in the latest draft, Lillard had explained he preferred his team to invest in players with experience than just depend on rising stars.

Cronin was recently asked if he believed the franchise was in danger if they were to lose Lillard during the offseason. The general manager says that most importantly, he respects his star guard’s decision.

“No, I don’t. I think Dame badly, badly wants to win and he’s probably being more vocal about that than ever but I don’t look at that as a negative. I look at that as he’s passionate about this, it matters deeply to him and it matters deeply to us,” he told Blazers.com.