Trail Blazers rumors: Damian Lillard may request a trade - Rip City Project

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The Portland Trail Blazers fanbase is in a state at the moment, after several strong Trail Blazers rumors / reports from reputable media, said star guard Damian Lillard was requesting a trade.

This has been another wild week on NBA Twitter that needs to be broken down piece by piece.

Sean Highkin from Bleacher Report and The Athletic’s Oregon beat writer had contrasting reports mid-week that talked about Blazers general manager Neil Olshey potentially being on the out.

These two reports made things seem uncertain in Portland, as the focus had been around a new head coach’s poor hiring process and the subsequent investigation into Chauncey Billups before he was hired.

My current read on the situation based on conversations I've had: it's more possible Neil Olshey doesn't survive this than it was 48 hours ago before the OPB report came out. The organization thought this story would go away. It has not.

— Sean Highkin (@highkin) July 15, 2021

For what it's worth: I'm hearing the opposite on Olshey. "He's not in trouble,'' a Vulcan source tells me. Vulcan was well aware of Olshey's vetting process, and was involved in parts of it. Bottom line: Organization believes Billups' side of the story. https://t.co/kOVOfvdIww

— Jason Quick (@jwquick) July 15, 2021

Then, reputable NBA writer Henry Abbott tweeted the below, starting a back and forth with Jusuf Nurkic as he did so. Abbott has been around a while and has done great investigative pieces into NBA teams and personnel in the past.

Abbott surely just didn’t make this up.

Source: Blazers star Damian Lillard to request trade in the days to come.

If this is a surprise, you haven't been paying attention. https://t.co/FS7KL1pPPm

— Henry Abbott (@TrueHoop) July 16, 2021

Lillard himself then did an interview with Yahoo Sports NBA Insider Chris Haynes. 

I think that’s the stage we’re at as a team where we all, not just me, not just my teammates, not just our new coaching staff, the front office, everybody in this organization must look in the mirror because we’ve constantly come up short. We have to look in the mirror and say I have to be better because whatever it is we’re doing is not working and it’s not giving us the shot to compete on the level that we want to compete on.

Lillard is clearly showing that things need to change in the organization, but he didn’t address the actual trade rumors until an interview he did in Las Vegas with Neil Olshey and Chauncey Billups on Friday. Billups and Olshey flying to Vegas is a sign that things arent well within the Blazers, but it’s encouraging to see that they wanted to clear the air.

Dame poured cold water on the above trade rumors in this interview too.

“I woke up to those reports, a lot of people reaching out to me. But it’s not true. I’ll start off the rip and say it’s not true. A lot of things are being said. It hasn’t come from me. I haven’t made any firm decision on what my future will be.”

I know there’s a lot to follow in this current space, but one thing is clear. Some people have credible information that says things aren’t great within the Blazers organization, and that Dame is unhappy. Both of these things are likely to be true.

But, Dame is a respectful guy, who will deal with things in house before requesting a trade.

There is a chance Olshey gets fired, and Dame requests a trade. The only way to be certain these don’t happen is to make a blockbuster trade to bring in more talent. Watch this space.

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Trail Blazers rumors: Damian Lillard may request a trade - Rip City Project
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