Lillard’s Latest IG Post Sparks More Questions
“Loyalty has an expiration date,”
That’s just a part of what Damian Lillard posted recently on his Instagram account.
Lillard, a six-time NBA All-Star with the Portland Trail Blazers, hasn’t played since undergoing surgery for an abdominal injury last January. He went on to miss the remainder of the 2021-2022 regular season, where the Trail Blazers missed the playoffs for the first time since his rookie campaign.
While Lillard’s current contract should keep him in a Portland uniform until the 2024-2025 season, he could also become an unrestricted free agent as early as the 2024 offseason. However as we’ve seen in the player empowerment era in the NBA, if a star player wants out, more often than not they get their wish.
Portland Offseason Moves “Not Enough”
While Lillard mentioned many times that he wanted to stay in Portland, the roster changes so far for Portland during the 2022 offseason haven’t moved the needle much in many executives’ minds to make them think the Trail Blazers will be able to compete for the playoffs this year.
The Trail Blazers acquired Jerami Grant via a trade with the Detroit Pistons in exchange for multiple draft picks.
In 47 starts in the 2021-2022 season, Grant averaged 19.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 35.8 shooting from the three-point line.
Portland also signed Gary Payton II to a three-year deal that would earn the defensive guard $28M. Payton II is fresh off a championship-winning run with the Golden State Warriors, where he averaged 7.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in 71 regular-season games.
While pundits considered Grant and Payton II, plus acquiring Canadian guard Shaedon Sharpe as the seventh pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, good pick-ups for the Trail Blazers, Lillard hasn’t signed an extension. Yet.
Why?
Many around the league believe those pick-ups aren’t up to the standards Lillard had in mind, especially after trading CJ McCollum last February. With the McCollum deal, the Blazers created a $20.8M trade exception and opened more cap room to work with during the 2022 offseason.
However that cap space and trade exception hasn’t landed them the “big fish” Lillard was hoping the front office could reel in this summer thus far.
Extension Not a Guarantee
Even if Damian Lillard signs a contract extension before the 2022-2023 season starts, there’s no guarantee he would stay put until the end of the contract. Not without a major roster upgrade.
Observers believe that Lillard will eventually sign a two-year contract extension amounting to more than 100 million dollars. However, if the team hopes to keep their franchise player for the long haul, there’s still work to be done by GM Joe Cronin and company.
The Blazers and Anfernee Simmons recently agreed to a four-year extension worth $100M. So although the Blazers still have Lillard under contract, the Simmons extension means the franchise has already begun creating a backup plan in the event Lillard announces he wants out of town.
Time is ticking for the Blazers. If they don’t bring in a difference maker soon, and Lillard declines his extension, not only can Lillard walk freely and sign elsewhere but the team also risks losing him for nothing.
Athletes post throwaway comments on social media all the time. But in this case, it appears as though Lillard is putting the Portland front office on notice.
-Iggy Gonzales
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.