Point guard Damian Lillard has spent his entire career with the Trail Blazers, and despite publicly stating multiple times that he intends to spend the rest of his career in Portland, his name has been featured in trade rumors off and on for years. Lillard recently gave some advice to Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has been the subject of similar speculation.
“The grass is not always greener on the other side,” Lillard said, according to Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman.
“You never know what it’s going to look like or how the next team might view you, especially when you’ve had some injuries like he’s had,” Lillard continued. “You just don’t know. Also I would tell him a lot of these people that are saying ‘free him’ and all of these things or whatever, they are not the people that are going to have to live with the consequences if it doesn’t work out. They’re not gonna ever have to walk in his shoes.”
Lillard also compliments Gilgeous-Alexander’s excellent start to the 2022/23 season, per Mussatto.
“He’s coming into his own,” Lillard said. “I can remember when I was younger and I became the leader of a team. … I see that he’s in that stage. He’s trying to show what he can do — almost like a coming out party for him.
“He’s having a great season. He’s playing confident, he’s playing well for the team and it’s fun to watch, just not when it happens against us.”
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