The Portland Trail Blazers have hit some turbulence this season, and it has inevitably led to more rumors about Damian Lillard’s future. It turns out Lillard himself might even be thinking about where he wants to go next.
In an episode this week of his “NBA Big Board” podcast, ESPN’s Chad Ford spoke on Lillard as well as the rumors that Lillard might want to land with the Philadelphia 76ers.
“I don’t actually think that, at least nothing that I’ve heard of, has Damian Lillard insisting that it has to be Philadelphia that he goes to,” said Ford. “In fact, everything that I’ve heard is that he would prefer a move to the West Coast or to stay on the West Coast.”
That would actually be a fairly notable development for Lillard. Most of the trade rumors in recent months had suggested that Lillard might like to go to the 76ers or to this other prominent East Coast team. But to prefer staying on the West Coast would make sense for Lillard, who is a native of Oakland, Calif. and attended college at Weber State University in Utah.
At the moment, the Blazers are 21-31 and recently shut down Lillard to have surgery for his lingering abdominal injury, keeping Lillard out until at least March. Lillard has been a lifelong Blazer, but Portland does not appear to have a path to contention as he moves further into his 30s. If Lillard does indeed want to stay on the West Coast, there was one such team that was recently linked to him.
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