Perhaps Damian Lillard would like to be traded from the Portland Trail Blazers, but not to the Golden State Warriors.

The All-Star point guard stated that he would prefer perpetual futility to joining the Warriors’ championship machine.

“I’m from there, obviously, so I respect what they’ve been doing for the previous eight, nine years or whatever. That’s where I call home. Lillard remarked in the 53:00 mark of It Is What It Is, “But I can’t go be a part of that.” Four championships were won by them. What do I look like trying to pull that off?

I meаn, that just doesn’t make any sense. That is something I would never, ever do. Before I Ԁie, I’m going to lose every year.

Given Lillard’s famous courtship of the Miami Heat, his words don’t make a whole lot of sense.

The Heat have reached the NBA Finals twice since 2020, whereas the Warriors have only reached the finals once. Only four times in the last 20 years has Miami not made the playoffs. Including the Warriors, the Heat may be the most consistent and well-organized NBA team.

Even if you consider the fact that the Heat lost both of their trips to the NBA Finals and the Warriors have won four championships since Steph Curry arrived, it’s hard to make the logical leap that you wouldn’t join one superteam while secretly trying to join another that had just made the Finals.

Lillard stated of Kevin Durant that he wouldn’t have followed him to Golden State from Oklahoma City in 2016.

According to Lillard, “if I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t have done that personally.” That seems like the kind of team they would have lost to. I believe they had previously won [the championship] before he arrived. I never would have done something like that.

It’s reasonable to question whether or not Lillard’s actions merit more condemnation than Durant’s. It was a free market for Durant. In Oklahoma City, he finished out his contract. In contrast, Lillard extended his deal by two years in July 2022, only to request a trade nine months later.

Lillard has struggled to find a consistent message since he requested a trade in July, despite years of public statements that he would never request a trade and always intended to stay in Portland.

It’s hard to fault Lillard for the request, considering the Blazers’ downward trend, but he should definitely stop trying to distinguish himself from other superstars who have switched teams in search of championships.