Shoutout to Damian Lillard

Unfortunately, Damian Lillard has now entered the ranks of the perpetually-injured.

I'll admit that a few years back, I was kinda turned off by Damian Lillard after he threw a sissyfit due to not (initially) being selected for the 2015 All-Star Game.  But in the years that followed, no one in their right mind would deny that Dame is one of the top scorers in the NBA.  And relatedly, the Portland Trailblazers have remained one of the most competitive teams throughout the latter part of the 2010s, even after LaMarcus Aldridge, in what some would deem his own sissy move, bounced on the team in 2015.  And it's like no Western Conference squad would actually want to go up against Dame and CJ McCollum in the Playoffs, regardless of what the Portland may be.  And the Trailblazers did go to the Western Conference Finals in 2019, albeit getting swept by the Warriors.

And that last fact is important to keep in mind because, even if the Blazers can prove to be a threat on any given night, they have never actually been contenders since the days of Clyde Drexler.  The 'what if' in this situation is what if LaMarcus Aldridge had stuck around long enough to witness CJ McCollum blossom into a borderline All-Star?   But considering that CJ didn't start averaging 20-ish points until LaMarcus left, it can be theorized that Aldridge's presence was stifling him.

Yes, as LaMarcus himself has attested to, it would have been quite spectacular to witness him, Dame and an All-Star level McCollum all on the same squad.  But even now it's not like the Blazers, currently with a 14 and 23 record, have a garbage roster.  As implied earlier, the braintrust of this organization has done an excellent job in terms of keeping them competitive.  But the bottom line is that they're just not good enough to reach the promised land.  And even if Aldridge had stuck around til McCollum blossomed, they still may not have been good enough.

And that is the main reason why I am compelled to write this ode to Damian Lillard.  He is unanimously one of the most-popular and entertaining-to-watch players in the NBA.  However unlike others who fall into that category, he has never demanded a trade or, to my knowledge, threatened to leave the Blazers.  And yes, the same can be said for Steph Curry.  But the difference between the two is that Steph is on a team which has consistently contended throughout the last few years.

CONCLUSION

And the second reason I wanted to write this post is because I more or less believe that Damian Lillard's career is over.  He may come back from his current spell of injuries and score a gazillion points here and there - that's not really anything as far as he's concerned.  But it is obvious that Dame's heyday is behind him.  And true to his word he stayed faithful to the Blazers throughout, bucking the trend of superteaming that his superstar contemporaries are following.

So as it currently stands, the idea of Damian Lillard leading a team to a championship is unrealistic.  Him even playing a prominent role on a squad that goes on to win a championship may be unrealistic for now considering his high salary, i.e. the healthy players an actual contending team would need to give up in order to accommodate Dame.  Well, I just remembered that Ben Simmons is still on the market.  And if the Blazers accepted a Simmons for Lillard trade now, as was being rumored for awhile, theoretically Dame can win a championship with the Sixers since they're already borderline contenders without him.

But I digress.  And in his day and age, being a superstar like Damian Lillard who sticks with a team that never even really got that close to making the Finals throughout his nearly decade-long tenure is a level of commitment that deserves to be applauded.  And these days it's rare to come across star athletes who display admirable internal attributes, like continued loyalty to a mediocre team.