Damian Lillard is active in the basketball world, and his thirst for a high profile free agent to join the Trailblazers has caught many experts’ attention. The Portland guard will be thrilled if he can get one of several players on his wishlist: Kevin Durant, Paul George, Kyrie Irving or Jimmy Butler.
Damian Lillard is “obsessed” with bringing a Golden State Warriors star to Portland in a move that would send shockwaves through the NBA. The Blazers are reportedly willing to offer their franchise player, Damian Lillard, in exchange for Klay Thompson or Kevin Durant. Read more in detail here: where is damian lillard from.
For more than a decade, Damian Lillard has been a top-10 NBA player, but he has yet to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to the promised land. During Dame’s tenure, the Blazers have only made it to the Western Conference semifinals once.
His club advanced to the Western Conference Finals in 2019, only to be swept by the Golden State Warriors. Now, according to reports, Dame wants to lure Warriors championship mainstay Draymond Green to Portland, a move that would drastically change the NBA landscape and provide the six-time all-star his greatest chance at a championship ever.
The Blazers never seem to be able to provide Dame with enough assistance.
During the first quarter of a game against the Philadelphia 76ers, Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard cries out to teammates. | Getty Images/Tim Nwachukwu
In the backcourt, CJ McCollum has become the Robin to Lillard’s Batman. On the offensive end, the combination is a nuisance, but on the defensive end, two tiny guards cause issues for Portland.
Along with those two, Jusuf Nurkic is a quality center, but he’s only played 45 games in the previous two seasons.
Role players like Larry Nance Jr, Robert Covington, Norman Powell (another small guard), Cody Zeller, and skilled but inexperienced young players like Anfernee Simons and Nassir Little make up the remainder of the Blazers’ squad.
Some of the additions made by Portland general manager Neil Olshey to assist Lillard have varied from mediocre to downright terrible. It was a washed-up Pau Gasol, Rodney Hood, and Anthony Tolliver in 2019.
The next year, it was Derrick Jones Jr., Harry Giles, and Carmelo Anthony (who has since been moved). Powell, Tony Snell, Ben McLemore, Zeller, and Nance are among the newcomers.
None of those players will help Notre Dame win a championship. But Lillard has remained steadfastly committed to Rip City, refusing to follow in the footsteps of Anthony Davis and James Harden and seek a trade. So bringing in a better player is the next best alternative.
Green, a three-time NBA champion and Defensive Player of the Year in 2016-17, is the man to beat.
Damian Lillard would get the defensive support he’s been lacking from Draymond.
Portland is 3-4 in seven games and has a defense rating of 20th in the league. The Blazers are also 20th and 18th in steals and blocks, respectively. They’ve surrendered the sixth most points per game in the league (112).
They gave up the fifth-most points (116.1) in 2020-21, the sixth-most points (115) in 2019-20, and the sixth-most points in the NBA the year Dame led them to the conference finals.
Green, on the other hand, has been the defensive anchor of one of the league’s most dominant teams for the previous six seasons. He averages 1.4 thefts and 1.0 blocks per game in his career. With those numbers, he’d be the top steals player in Portland this season, and just 0.1 blocks behind McCollum.
During the 2014-15 season, when Green, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson won their first title together before Kevin Durant, Golden State ranked second in defensive rating. They were also runner-up in the 2016-17 championship season.
Draymond would become the Blazers’ greatest defensive player right away, not to mention the impact his attitude and tenacity would have on the team’s culture, something the organization has lacked since Lillard came in 2012.
A viable road to a Portland-Golden State exchange including Green exists.
Draymond Green, a second-round selection, made his NBA debut 9 years ago today. In his sixth game, he scored his first point.
Since then, he’s won three championships, been named Defensive Player of the Year six times, been named to the All-Defense team three times, and been named to the NBA’s All-Star team twice. Is he a future Hall of Famer? pic.twitter.com/Y0krNdkNT3
October 31, 2021 — Ballislife.com (@Ballislife)
According to Spotrac, Draymond is 31 years old and has a deal worth about $100 million that goes through 2022-23 with a player option for 2023-24. Since his first few seasons in the league, he’s also seen a dramatic drop in offensive production.
Since 2017-18, Green hasn’t played more than 66 games and has averaged just 7.4 points per game. He’s still having an impact on games in other ways, such as with his 7.0 rebounds, 7.4 assists, and 2.4 stocks (steals plus blocks), but he’s still shooting 27.9% from three.
With a recent injury history and a hefty deal that might extend into his age 33 season, the former Michigan State star is plainly a fading offensive performer. There’s a chance Golden State may part with Draymond if the appropriate deal comes around.
And if Dame is tenacious enough with Olshey to find a way to get Green to Portland, he’ll be able to do it.
At this time, Draymond is more useful to Dame Dolla and the Blazers than he is to the Warriors. A trade to lure him to Portland makes sense, and there’s a good chance it will happen if the franchise point guard wants it to.
NBA.com provided all data.
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