WAY Beyond First World Problems
How can you walk a mile in the shoes of someone who makes more than $60 million a year for playing a kids' game?
The Lillard soap opera is going to be an interesting study of fan allegiance. It’s going to test people like never before. Will they side with the franchise they root for? Or the frustrated star who wants nothing to do with it? Lillard has been reluctant to speak publicly, presumably because he doesn’t have anything kind to say about the franchise. But there’s a public collision shaping up, be sure.
Lillard wants out. The fan base sort of understands, mostly. But again, this is a very different sports market. One that I suspect would love nothing more than to see a smiling Lillard on the court alongside Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe next season.
That does not appear likely.
Fans in the Pacific Northwest appreciate authenticity. They rally behind a great cause. It’s why they were moved to send that housekeeper and her husband $6,000. But we’re about to find out if they know what to do with an NBA player who is telling the world that their undying love and $451 million in career earnings simply isn’t enough.
I don’t write much about sports, primarily because, even though I’m a sports fan and was an athlete throughout my youth, I find it difficult to relate to professional athletes. How does one relate to someone who makes more money pushing themselves away from the dinner table than I will over the course of my lifetime? Their lives have no conceivable connection to my own, nor do their problems.
They exist on a plane with which I’m wholly unfamiliar. I may be able to see them perform on it, but I have no basis for comparison. Sure, I played soccer in college and toyed (for about a nanosecond) with the idea of pursuing a professional career in Europe. However, that was a far different time and place than today.
I probably would’ve starved because I would’ve been playing for fourth-division sides in Liechtenstein or Gibraltar. I had little to no hope of reaching the heights approached by today’s athletes…and that’s OK. But while my experience might bring me a scant millimeter or two closer to understanding modern professional athletes, it’s still a tough road. After all, how can ANYONE understand the travails of someone who perhaps 14-15 months ago signed a two-year contract extension worth (are you sitting down for this?) $122 million?
WTF?
Yeah, life certainly is a bitch, ain’t it?
Pobrecito….
The problem for Damian Lillard is that he’s only asking for a team capable of competing for an NBA championship. He’s 33 and has been the face of the Portland Trailblazers franchise since almost the day he arrived in town, and the past two years have been a joke. Last season, the Trailblazers sat or put most of the starting lineup and anyone else who’d gotten significant playing time on the injured list or the end of the bench.
They mailed in the season's last two months to secure a good draft position. Of course, their fans were still paying NBA prices to watch players who would’ve struggled to get playing time in the G-League.
This happens when you have an ownership group whose give-a-fuck is worn down to the nubbins. The question then becomes how much one can reasonably expect Damian Lillard to be OK with. He’s been the team’s star for years, and while there’ve been some decent enough seasons, the Trailblazers have never made it past the Western Conference Finals.
Lillard asked for a trade. He’s since unfollowed the Blazers on Instagram. But I’m fairly sure most of the fan base still loves him, in part, because he made the franchise matter. Also, because he was beyond loyal by NBA standards. Also, because they’d probably love to be traded themselves.
Let’s be clear — if Phil Knight owned the Trail Blazers the franchise wouldn’t be in this position. I suspect fans would be buying season tickets and trying to decide what to wear to the playoffs. Lillard would be happy, I’ll bet. But Knight’s offer to buy the franchise two summers ago was ignored and here we are.
Portland’s current braintrust — trustee Jody Allen and trusty sidekick Bert Kolde — don’t appear eager to take pennies on the dollar in a trade of their most valuable player. I understand the logic. I also understand that Lillard’s patience has been exhausted by a franchise that wasted his best years.
All Lillard has asked for is a team that can legitimately compete for a title, and the response from ownership had been, “Meh…you’ll take what we give you, and you’ll like it. You’re under contract.”
It’s long been apparent that the Trailblazers’ ownership hasn’t been nearly as committed to winning a championship as Lillard is. Something had to give.
Lillard finally decided that enough was enough this summer and asked for a trade. His contract has a no-trade clause, so he specified that the one team he’d accept being traded to is the Miami Heat.
By specifying his wish to be traded to Miami, he’s limited the Trailblazers’ options, which is why he’s yet to be traded. How soon a trade can or will be completed remains to be seen.
To his credit, Lillard hasn’t ranted or gone off in the press about how unfairly he’s been treated. In fact, he’s said nothing to the media at all. When I met him a few weeks ago, he seemed like someone who didn’t have a care in the world. Seriously, how bad can things be if you’re due to make $122 million over the next two years?
That’s a boatload of “IDGAF about anything in this world” money, knowhutimean? Then again, he has people to worry about things for him, so he can spend time with his family and friends without losing sleep over anything. $61 million a year will do that for you.
Training camp begins next month for the Trailblazers. Currently, there are more questions than answers. It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out if Lillard hasn’t been traded by then. Trailblazers fans adore Damian Lillard, and the respect is mutual. He came to Portland out of college as a young man and matured into the leader he is now. He has his name on a Toyota dealership in McMinnville just west of Portland, and he’s long been a local icon. Even if he’s traded to Miami, he’ll still be a beloved member of the community.
Aside from Portland Timbers FC, the local Major League Soccer franchise, the Portland Trailblazers are the only game in town. There’s no NFL, NHL, or Major League Baseball franchise (yet). The NBA championship the Trailblazers won in 1977 is still a topic of conversation, and Bill Walton, one of that team’s stars, remains a local hero even though he’s rarely ever in town. So, yeah, the Trailblazers are a BFD. When they’re playing well, everyone in Portland feels better about things. Conversely, it makes for a longer and colder winter when they’re not, as has been the case over the past few years.
Winters are long, cold, and damp enough without the Trailblazers going 33-49 as they did last season and 27-55 as they did in 2021-22.
Even when things were not-so-great and/or verging on the genuinely awful for the Trailblazers, Damian Lillard represented the one reliably bright spot in seasons filled with too many dark moments. Watching him drop three-point shots from the logo, almost at half-court, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, is truly awe-inspiring and the sort of thing mere mortals don’t do.
Lillard can drop 40, 50, or 60 points on an opponent depending on how a game develops on a particular night. He never sets out to dominate a game, but it happens some nights. Though he’s comparatively slight (6’2”, 195 lbs.) and operating in a land of giants, Lillard has a knack for getting anywhere he wants to with the ball. And his intent isn’t always to shoot; he’s also a deft passer, which, as a point guard, makes him one of the best in the league.
Lillard can make plays, set up his teammates, and find ways to make those on the floor with him better. Without him, Portland will be a very young, vulnerable, and probably borderline awful team. There’s talent on the roster, but it’s young and raw. More experienced teams will chew them up and spit them out. Damian Lillard can captain the ship and make the team more than the sum of its parts.
I can’t relate to Lillard’s “problem,” but I understand why he asked for a trade. And I have to give him full credit for handling the situation in a mature and professional manner. He’s kept his powder dry and hasn’t vented his spleen in the media. Too many NBA players would’ve scorched the earth and alienated their entire organization and fan base to force their way out of town.
He could’ve burned his bridges a lá James Harden, who’s trying to force his way out of Philadelphia by calling 76ers General Manager Daryl Morey a “liar.” Then, in case anyone missed it the first time, Harden repeated his insult. That’s a sure way to impress future employers, no? Especially since this isn’t the first time Harden has pulled this sort of stunt. If memory serves, it’s the third time he’s done it.
A few descriptors come to mind when I think of James Harden- spoiled, immature, unreliable, self-centered, and utterly devoid of self-awareness. He’s making upwards of $30 million annually and acting like a recalcitrant child. Decency prevents me from writing what I honestly think of that sort of immaturity.
Damian Lillard is none of those things, and he’s been loved in Portland almost since the day he arrived from Weber State with a chip on his shoulder. Instead of demanding respect, he went to work and earned it. People here recognize that and admire him for his commitment to his craft and his commitment to Portland.
His request to be traded to Miami isn’t seen as a rejection of Portland, merely a recognition that the Trailblazers’ ownership is out of their depth. That’s the unfortunate reality, and the truth is that the Trailblazers are unlikely to have a roster capable of contending for an NBA championship before Lillard turns 45.
So, no, I don’t think anyone in Portland blames him for asking to be traded. It’s too bad we can’t do the same thing with the team’s owners.
After all that Damian Lillard has accomplished in his career, he deserves the opportunity to play for a team capable of competing for an NBA championship. It’s too bad that it won’t be here in Portland.
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