Damian Lillard Returns to Portland Trail Blazers | NBA Trade News
will know what that is. All right. Elsewhere, more contract news as we go to the NBA. A rather shocking development, but cool. Just from the nostalgia perspective of Damian Lillard returning to his NBA home of Portland, he spent the past two years in Milwaukee a disaster for Dame and the bucks. But the first 11 of his NBA career n the Rose city. Dame is back with the Blazers on a three year, $42 million deal that includes a no trade clause and a player option for the 20 2728 season. Does this change things for Portland this upcoming year? No Dame is recovering from a ruptured Achilles that he suffered in the playoffs against the Indiana Pacers. He just turned 35 on Tuesday. Happy belated birthday to Dame, by the way. But he is back in Portland. It’s cool doctors. It’s nostalgic. But again, we kind of thought that Dame would maybe go to a surefire championship contender. The Blazers, even with some young talent, are not that. I mean, I guess you could just equate it to this. Like see Milwaukee like Giannis like nobody’s a free agent. Wants to go live in Milwaukee. They don’t. So you got to keep your superstar happy and cut Dame Lillard and pay a ton of money to get other players. Which doesn’t make any sense on your roster and probably won’t make you better. Portland’s the same way. No superstar wants to go to Portland there. So you go, oh well, Dame actually wants to be back here and this is going to hurt us. It sort of brings back those vibes where Kobe Bryant was in LA. Great basketball player horrendous basketball team. But maybe he could sell a couple extra seats and be a star in the building. That’s Dame. And also from a perspective of what Dame wants, Dame just doesn’t care about championships and that’s okay. Like he makes a lot of money. He can do that and continue to lose in Portland. Can have it both ways I guessd champion of the world between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois. We also, Fonseca want to talk some NBA off season drama. Damian Lillard signing a three year, $42 million deal to return to the Portland Trail Blazers the past two seasons in Milwaukee. That didn’t work the first 11 years of his career. Maybe the most notable trailblazer of all time. But Fonseca we talked about after he was released, waived and then stretched over the final five or the next five years by the bucks, Dame would kind of have his pick of the litter. We thought he would consider a championship contender either this year as he recovers from a ruptured Achilles, or even to start 20 2627. So outside of the sentimental value, why did Dame choose Portland again? Well, people have speculated whether or not this is about his personal stuff that’s going on. I’m not going to, like, get too deep into that. But I do wonder if, you know, because there’s a world where because it doesn’t make sense if you’re trying to win a title, if you’re Damian Lillard and you care about that, but maybe he just needs to go home and handle some business for a little while, you know what I mean? And the puzzling thing for me was the no trade clause, which also tells me if Damian Lillard wants to. Now this is kind of like a half baked conspiracy theory, but is he just going home to take care of what he has to take care of rehab at the crib, and then after a year, try to get moved to a contender and actually the team he wants because he wanted to go to the heat before. And then he ended up in Milwaukee and was open to going to nets reportedly, but ended up going to Milwaukee. So there’s kind of a world where it’s like, all right, let’s try this again. Even though I’m going to be a little bit older, I’ll rehab, I’ll handle what I got to handle and then go somewhere else with my no trade clause, because I can just force myself out, I don’t think I don’t know if that’s going to happen. Like maybe he just really loves it there and just wants to retire there. I don’t think he ever wanted to leave to begin with, but it just made sense in terms of wanting to try to capitalize on what was left of his prime. And now we could all agree, like his prime is probably done. That’s not to say he still can’t be a really good player, though, even if he has to be relegated to a seventh eighth man of the year. But having an Achilles at this stage of your career, in your mid 30s, when you’ve been in the league for ten plus years is tough. And I do think that like when he comes back, he can still be a really good player. I would just personally want to see it on a on a better team. I don’t think Portland’s terrible. I think they’re actually going to be like pretty fun to watch. Like if you’re a league pass junkie this year, they have some guys and we’ll see like seriously like Danny Toumani Kamara Scoot Henderson like we’ll see what some of these guys can become Hanson-Young. Who else. Thank you. Who am I missing. Oh okay. Hanson-Young. No Mr. Handsome and Young. Yeah yeah for sure. He he he looks like he’s going to be really good potentially. Even though people thought he was drafted too soon. So I think Portland could like are they going to be a play in team I don’t know, but they could be young, fun and exciting. I don’t know if that’s what Damian Lillard, if he wants to win a championship, should be around right now. But again he could rehab at home. Why not. You know just why not. And then potentially even play for them at some point. And maybe they’re a lot better in a year using some of the draft capital, the young guys that they have, I don’t know. We’ll see. Are we surprised, Brian, that the deal came together so quickly here? Because it’s not a rush like he’s not going to get back on the court. Let’s just say in September or October or November. Was there any thoughts? Because we were hearing like behind the scenes like, hey, you know what, the Celtics might be interested if his rehab goes well, we can use him for a playoff push. Like, I was just surprised that I was hearing yesterday like, oh, he might want to go back to Portland. And before, you know, within an hour, Brian, he was back in Portland. It was five minutes. Zach Lowe tweeted out the rumors. And then Shams was like, all right, here’s the deal. And I feel like Zach Lowe knew it was coming, but he just didn’t want to like, you know, go all in with it. I mean, he he’s like the best at what he does, but he doesn’t try to break news and he’s up front about that. So maybe he just didn’t want to anyway. But like I find it interesting that it was three years, 42 million with a player option. Because what that also is, is a very tradable contract. And if Portland does want to like quote unquote do right by him this time, like they can do that or if he just retires there, then I don’t think people are going to like be off about it because this he’s he’s arguably their best player ever. It’s either him or one other dude. We know who that is. And with with Damian Lillard. It’s just like I am. I’m not surprised at the timing, Donny, but I’m just am surprised I guess that it it is in fact Portland. But when you really think about it, it’s like, okay, that that makes some sense. And if I’m Damian Lillard like why not get why not get paid this year to rehab with the team instead of just rehabbing on my own and being out of the league? Yeah. Quickly here. Fonseca. Yes or no? That’s all we have time for. Does Bradley Beal make the LA Clippers better? Sure. That was one word I’ll give you that. All right. Good week
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Damian Lillard’s Surprising Return to Portland: Breaking Down the Shocking NBA Move
In this episode, we discuss Damian Lillard’s unexpected return to the Portland Trailblazers on a three-year, $42 million deal, including a no-trade clause and a player option for the 2027-28 season. Despite recovering from a ruptured Achilles and turning 35, Lillard’s decision, driven by sentimental value and personal reasons, leaves many questioning his championship ambitions. We also delve into potential implications for the Trailblazers, the young talent on the team, and speculate on Lillard’s future moves. Additionally, we briefly touch on Bradley Beal’s impact on the LA Clippers.
00:00 Damian Lillard’s Return to Portland
00:47 Analyzing the Impact on Portland
01:40 Speculations and Theories Behind the Move
04:07 Portland’s Future Prospects
05:02 Contract Details and Trade Possibilities
06:28 Quick Takes on Other NBA News
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