The Portland Trail Blazers had an abysmal season in 2022-23. They won just 33 games and finished 13th in the Western Conference and that too with Damian Lillard on their roster. However, the fanbase found a silver lining as the Blazers’ poor regular season performance earned them the 3rd pick in the 2023 NBA draft lottery. Portland drafted supremely athletic point guard, Scoot Henderson with the pick.

Both Damian Lillard and Scoot Henderson played the same position: Point guard. This led many fans to speculate that Scoot was the main reason Dame demanded a trade.

Passing of the Torch

Damian Lillard cleared all the speculation regarding his trade demand when he made an appearance on the Come and Talk 2 Me podcast. The disgruntled star said this “Me and Scoot, we’ve had a few conversations with him coming to the league. It wasn’t a deal breaker for me at all, I respect his game”. He added further, “I think at that position he was the best player available. That’s what you got to do if you got the pick. I wasn’t offended at all because at the end of the day, you got to come in and play. To me, that wasn’t a knock on me”.

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The Blazers drafted Scoot Henderson because they knew that Dame was going to ask for a trade. With Dame gone, the Blazers could look to the future and build an exciting team around the talents of Scoot and Shaedon Sharpe. The Blazers have promising stars for the future. It remains to be seen if the front office can build a title-contending team soon.

Uncertainty Surrounding Dame’s Future

Damian Lillard is one of the most loyal superstars of his generation. In the era of player empowerment, Dame stuck around with the Blazers in order to win the “right way”. The closest Dame got to a title shot was in 2019, when he came up against the Warriors in the Western Conference finals. In the conference finals, the Warriors swept the Trail Blazers comprehensively.

“Want to Do That to Dame Lillard?”: If not Miami Heat, Hall-of-Fame Journalist Wonders Which NBA Team Has “Guts” to Trade for Blazers Superstar

After eleven years of disappointment, Dame finally requested a trade. Miami Heat is his preferred destination, as they provide the perfect environment for Dame to win the elusive Larry O’Brien trophy. But talks with the Heat have stalled, as the Heat don’t have sufficient trading capacity to entice the Blazers into trading Dame. He could still start the new NBA season with the Blazers. What does the future hold for Dame? I guess only time will tell that part of the story.

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