During an interview with NBA reporter Marc J. Spears of Andscape, Damian Lillard said his title aspirations are “higher than it’s ever been.” The superstar point guard has requested a trade from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Miami Heat.
“It’s higher than it’s ever been,” Lillard said. “When you’re younger and you’re winning, you realize that you got time. When you establish yourself in the league and you know that you’re here to stay, you feel like you have time. The older you get, that just means more time that you’ve put into it, especially when you’re at the top of the game and you’re having all these individual accomplishments, it becomes more and more of a priority to have the ultimate accomplishment, which is why we play the game, in winning the championship.
“I would say the desire for that now is as high as it’s probably going to be,” Lillard continued. “That’s literally the thing at the top of my list. When I wake up and I got to get up and go do what I got to do, I got to train, I got to make time for my kids, I still got to lift, I got to do all these things and I got to make sure that training and the preparation is still my priority. Even with being a father of three now, not one, and having all these other responsibilities, you need something that you feel pretty strong about to stay committed the way I’ve been committed. It’s as high as it’s going to get. That’s ultimately what I want to experience and that’s what I want to get done.”
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Damian Lillard & Portland Trail Blazers Updates
Lillard has career NBA averages of 25.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 6.7 assists in 769 games with the Blazers. He’s never been to the NBA Finals and requested a trade from the Blazers to the Heat on July 1 after Portland didn’t add several impactful veterans in free agency.
A future Hall of Famer, Lillard was also upset the Blazers didn’t trade the third overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft for a star player. Portland drafted Scoot Henderson, who plays the same position as Lillard, with the third pick.
Lillard requested to be traded from the Blazers to only the Heat on July 1. He has spent all 11 seasons of his NBA career with Portland, which selected him with the sixth pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. The Blazers finished 33-49 and 13th in the Western Conference last season.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Damian Lillard & Portland Trail Blazers Updates
Lillard is close friends with Heat center Bam Adebayo and believes he can win an NBA championship in Miami playing alongside Jimmy Butler and Adebayo. The Heat have been working on a trade package for Lillard of expiring contracts, three to four first-round picks and one of the team’s younger players, with Tyler Herro going to a third team. The deal could potentially also involve second-rounders and draft pick swaps.
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