According to CJ McCollum, we may have seen the last of Damian Lillard in a Portland Trail Blazers uniform. The trade chatter surrounding Dame has been rife again (after all, it is the offseason), and McCollum is doing his bit to add further fuel to the flame. CJ spent many years playing in Portland alongside Lillard, so you have to give some stock to his statement here.

Blazers big man Jusuf Nurkic has now caught wind of his former teammate's take on the whole Damian Lillard conundrum, and for his part, Nurk had a pretty eye-opening reaction to the same:

Nurkic did add ā€œLolā€ at the end of his statement, which offers a bit of a safety net to his bold claim here. After all, the Blazers center can always claim that he was just kidding. Nevertheless, you have to say that there is some truth to his statement here, and the fact that Nurkic has vocalized his true feelings on Lillard (and his) situation in Portland has to hold some value.

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Blazers fans can take comfort in the notion that based on Nurkic's fearless forecast here, this team will still have a chance to prove itself this season. According to Nurkic, the front office will only decide to blow up this team if they fail to live up to the expectations in 2023-24.

Whatever the case might be, it's going to be a very interesting summer ahead for the Blazers. Whether or not Damian Lillard will still be in Portland when the new season starts is anybody's guess right now.