With Portland’s 2020-21 season in the rearview mirror, Damian Lillard broke his silence Thursday and addressed the trade rumors that have been brewing.
The reportedly disgruntled point guard sounded like he was willing to give next season a go with new coach, Chauncey Billups, at the helm.
“I’m prepared to go in and do my job every year like I always do,” Lillard said Thursday following Team USA practice. “Hopefully we make strides in a positive direction, and we can become a better team with a new coach. That’s where I am with it.”
However, the 30-year-old hinted at possible conversations he might have had with Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey regarding the organization.
“At this point, it’s a lot of things being said. Sometimes words being put in my mouth and I haven’t said anything,” Lillard said. “All of the people who have covered me since I’ve been in the NBA, they know that if I think something or have something to say, I’ll say it and I’m going to stand on it. It’s been a lot of talk. Nobody has heard what I’ve said or nobody has heard me say any of these things.
“Anything that I have to say, I’m going to say it directly to Neil, and I’m going to address it directly with my team. I don’t really have nothing to say to you guys about it. Everything I need to say and feel has been said to Neil.”
Yahoo Sports’s Chris Haynes previously reported Lillard had grown frustrated with the franchise’s process of hiring its new head coach and concerns over the team’s inability to build a championship-contending team. Haynes had previously noted Lillard would have major input on the team’s new coach.
Lillard was reportedly unaware of Billups’s sexual assault allegations from 1997 despite the two having a relationship, which contradicts what the point guard previously told The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Jason Quick in June. Lillard said ,”I like J. Kidd and Chauncey,” referring to Jason Kidd, who was eventually hired as the Mavericks’ new coach, and Billups.
Check out the latest news and notes from around the NBA:
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