Damian Lillard just revealed he has not yet made any decision regarding his future with the Portland Trail Blazers, officially debunking rumors he would be demanding for a trade. However, that doesn't mean he's staying.
As Lillard emphasized, he wants to compete for and win the Larry O'Brien trophy, and the challenge is on the Blazers to help him do that. The All-Star guard also shared that he wants to see that urgency from the Portland front office to really take the step forward from being just playoff contenders.
“The best way to put it is be more urgent. Be urgent about our next step and how we move forward. We've made the playoffs all these years. We're not a bad team, we're a good team. It's a lot of positives. But we've reached that point where it's not enough,” Lillard said in his latest press conference, per Sean Highkin of Bleacher Report.
The Blazers have made the playoffs in the past eight seasons, including in the 2020-21 campaign, but all those efforts did not bear fruit. Portland was thrown out in the first round in five of those postseason berths, and they have only made the Western Conference Finals once–in 2018-19 when they were swept by the Golden State Warriors.
In the 2021 playoffs, the Blazers' defense doomed them. While Damian Lillard was an unstoppable offensive force, it became quite clear Portland needs to make major improvements on the roster to compete for the title.
It remains to be seen what the Blazers will do to make Dame happy and stay, but it sure looks like they have to take action sooner rather than later.
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