Fans of the Portland Trail Blazers don't want to hear any talks about the offseason and rightfully so. The Denver Nuggets lead the best-of-seven against the Blazers 3-2 entering Game 6 on Thursday evening.
But the reality of the situation facing Damian Lillard and the Blazers is that a first round exit via the Denver Nuggets could lead to some decisions needing to be made by the all-star guard about his future with the franchise.
The Blazers appear to have a really good foundation with Lillard and CJ McCollum spearheading the attack. Complementary pieces like Carmelo Anthony, Norman Powell and Jusuf Nurkic provide the kind of depth that other teams dream about. Yet, the Blazers can't ever seem to get over the hump.
Now, there's a chance, and it's not far-fetched, that Portland rallies and pulls off two straight wins against the Nuggets and this all becomes a moot point. However right now, the Blazers are looking elimination square in the eyes again.
Lillard and the Blazers have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs three out of the last four season. If they can't rip off two consecutive against Nikola Jokic and Denver, it becomes four out of five. The outlier came in 2018-19 when the Blazers made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals before being swept by the Warriors.
A first round exit this year and Lillard would have to at least consider his options outside of Portland.
While Lillard is under contract with the Blazers through the 2024-25 season, we have seen the âdisgruntled starâ act work well recently for others. This isn't to suggest Lillard is disgruntled, but a first round exit wouldn't help.
James Harden pushed his way out of Houston just this year and the haul the Rockets got in return featured plenty of future draft picks and draft pick swaps.
The Blazers likely wouldn't want to budge and the thought of moving Lillard would be devastating but if he wants a fresh start, teams like the Knicks, Heat and Lakers may come knocking while offering the house for the all-star.
Lillard is coming off a 55-point performance in which he made an NBA postseason record 12 three-pointers. And it still wasn't enough, as Denver outlasted the Blazers in double overtime. Lillard shrugged off any notion that he needed more help from his teammates following Game 5, noting Portland just needed to win the game.
Damian Lillard doesn't appear to be the type that would go the mode of saying he's done with Portland but, many thought the same about Paul George in Indiana and Anthony Davis in New Orleans. There are countless instances of the star player emptying the tank time and time again for a franchise and them still coming up short, leading to a new desired destination. Lillard could end up just being the latest this summer.
The rest of this series could go quite some way in dictating and molding what the future of the Blazers looks like. And that includes the future of Damian Lillard.
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