Damian Lillard on if Blazers wanted to trade him: ‘I’m not going to fight them on wanting to trade me’

“Everybody is like, ‘He’s going to do this. He’s going to do that,’” Lillard said. “But the game is so watered down, and the game is so fugazi (fake) that people literally won’t believe what you say even if you say it directly to them.” Though Damian Lillard wants to stay with the Blazers, asked if he would accept a trade, he responded: “If they came to me and they wanted to trade me – I’m not going to fight them on wanting to trade me. I don’t want to be anywhere I’m not wanted. But I don’t think that’s the case.”
Source: Jabari Young @ CNBC

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Jabari Young @JabariJYoung
“I have no plans of not being a Portland Trail Blazer. I want to be here and I think they want me here”
Talked #business & #NBA career w/ #Blazers Damian Lillard. He entered the projected $4 billion footwear insoles market w/ ⁦⁦@MoveInsoles⁩ cnbc.com/2022/04/15/dam… – 10:14 AM

Austin Burton @Amaar_206
Dame watching C.J. play like MJ in the postseason: pic.twitter.com/Otr4EWiARX – 10:52 PM

Andrew Lopez @_Andrew_Lopez
CJ McCollum has been preparing for this new role his entire career.
After 8.5 years in Portland, he’s blazing a new trail in New Orleans.
Dame told ESPN: “He’s exactly what they needed.”
espn.com/nba/story/_/id… – 10:12 AM

More on this storyline

But after uncertainty around his future with the team surfaced last summer, Lillard watched the Blazers go through a turbulent transition on and off the court in the 2021-22 NBA season. Still, he wants to stay. “I have no plans of not being a Portland Trail Blazer,” said Lillard. “I want to be here, and I think they want me here.” -via CNBC / April 15, 2022

Sean Highkin: Damian Lillard, addressing the crowd: “A tough season, a lot of adversity this year. A lot of things came up that we didn’t expect. But I want you to know one thing: this will not continue. Next year we’re gonna be back better than before.” pic.twitter.com/uw57RcCAJr -via Twitter @highkin / April 11, 2022

CH: A championship in Portland is still your desire? Damian Lillard: “That’s the only thing I care about, honestly. It seems like after I announced that I was having surgery, people were like, ‘Oh, he’s 31 and having this done.’ Man, 31 is not old. They act like you’re old when we have guys around the league older than me that are still playing at a high level. Also, my game is not based on me playing above the rim. I’m a sniper. I shoot. I got a good step. I can think the game. I can manipulate the game, and I know how to play. My game will age well, and I don’t have a history of injuries. And the one that I just had is not a bad injury to have. I’m going to come back and be fine. Like I said, my best is yet to come. And the only things that I play for at this point is I want to be the MVP of the league and I want to win the championship. And once I do those things, I feel great about the investment that I made to this game over my whole life. If I accomplish those two things, I’m walking away feeling like I literally got the most out of myself as an athlete.” -via Yahoo! Sports / March 25, 2022