The Portland Trail Blazers have had a peculiar offseason this year and it could lead to the departure of Damian Lillard.
It’s been no secret that Damian Lillard is starting to feel frustrated with the Portland Trail Blazers. Rumors have been rising up this offseason and got to the point where people thought that he may ask for a trade out of Portland. It had gotten so bad that Dame himself had to come out trying to squash the rumors but didn’t entirely silence them.
So, this begs the question. Have the Portland Trail Blazers done enough this offseason to keep Lillard happy moving forward?
The Trail Blazers offseason has seemed lackluster on the surface and seemed poised to be running it back with most of the key pieces from last year’s playoff team. With the addition of a new head coach and some new role players the Trail Blazers seem destined for yet again another first-round exit.
The Portland Trail Blazers’ offseason moves
The Trail Blazers kicked off their offseason by hiring former player and ESPN analyst Chauncey Billups as their head coach. Many people were upset with the fact (and rightly so) about the Trail Blazers front office hiring someone with past sexual assault allegations and frankly, the Trail Blazers didn’t seem very concerned about it.
Lillard voiced his concerns about this move on social media and told people he didn’t have a say in the hire even though he was promised to have input in the coaching search.
The offseason moves that Portland made this year were very uninspiring. The biggest move the Trail Blazers made was re-signing their own top free agent Norman Powell to a five-year, $90 million deal. Veterans Carmelo Anthony, Enes Kanter, Zach Collins were replaced with Cody Zeller, Ben McLemore, and Tony Snell (not the most inspiring list of veteran replacements).
The biggest trade Portland made this offseason was acquiring Larry Nance Jr. The Blazers had to give up Derrick Jones Jr. and two future draft picks to land the versatile big man. Appearing in 35 games with the Cavaliers last season, Nance averaged 9.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.7 steals per game while posting a 57 percent True Shooting percentage.
The Blazers had only one pick in the 2021 NBA Draft and they selected Greg Brown III in the second round. The Trail Blazers also signed Trendon Watford to a two-way deal and added Dennis Smith Jr. and Marquise Chris on non-guaranteed deals.
Will this be enough to keep Lillard happy?
Quite frankly, I don’t believe this offseason of uninspiring moves has moved the needle for the Blazers at all. The Trail Blazers are returning the same core from last season as the Western Conference grows stronger with Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers looking to rejoin the hierarchy of the conference and young teams like Memphis and New Orleans hot on their tail.
Depending on how the season plays out for Portland will ultimately decide the happiness of one Lillard, but as it looks right now things are looking about the same for the Trail Blazers heading into the season.