Former NBA guard and current ESPN analyst Jalen Rose appreciates Portland Trail Blazers star point guard Damian Lillard following in Dirk Nowitzki’s footsteps by wanting to stay with one team.
Nowitzki spent his entire career with the Dallas Mavericks. Lillard has said multiple times he wants to retire with the Blazers and will not leave Portland to create a superteam:
Damian Lillard signed a five-year, $196 million extension with the Blazers this summer. Dame averaged 25.8 points and 6.9 assists during the regular season in 2018-19 while shooting 44.4 percent from the field, 36.9 percent from beyond the arc and 91.2 percent from the free-throw line.
In the 2019 playoffs, Lillard put up 26.9 points per game. The Blazers advanced to the Western Conference Finals, where they got swept by the Golden State Warriors. It was still a successful playoff run for Portland, as it defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets.
Lillard is the second-leading scorer in Blazers franchise history. He enters next season 5,131 points behind Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler. Lillard wants to win a championship with the Blazers and has no intention of ring chasing.
Dirk Nowitzki did the same thing with the Mavs. The future Hall of Famer never expressed a desire to leave Dallas and won the 2011 championship over LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat.
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