Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard. Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

Damian Lillard wants Blazers to make all-in push for four-time champion

By Vinny Somma | Last updated 6/26/23

Damian Lillard's unwavering loyalty to the Trail Blazers may be reaching its breaking point.

Sam Amick of The Athletic reported Lillard is expected to meet with general manager Joe Cronin and Blazers officials early this week to discuss the "next steps of the roster-building process."

According to Amick, Lillard's "dream scenario" for the Blazers this offseason is for the team to re-sign forward Jerami Grant and add four-time NBA champion Draymond Green in free agency.

Green, 33, chose to opt out of his $27.6M player option last week, making him an unrestricted free agent come June 30. By most accounts, the Warriors are highly confident they'll re-sign Green, remaining adamant that the four-time All-Star is a necessity to their winning culture.

"To win at the highest level, we feel we have to have him."

Mike Dunleavy Jr. knows bringing back Draymond is priority No. 1 pic.twitter.com/vRR7jdQI8q
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) June 19, 2023

Prying Green away from Golden State would be a tall task for Cronin and the Blazers, who own the lowest projected practical cap space in the NBA, according to Spotrac. Green recently hinted on social media that he expects his next contract to check in at $100. Insider Marc Stein wrote on his Substack this past Sunday that the former Defensive Player of the Year projects to ink a three-year deal in free agency.

Draymond Green’s Instagram story: pic.twitter.com/SEiOYu52nW
— De️ressed Warriors Fan (@GoIdenState) June 23, 2023

The Sacramento Kings and Memphis Grizzlies are two other teams rumored as potential suitors for Green this offseason.

Chances are the Blazers would prefer not to split with Lillard. The franchise's all-time leading scorer has spent the entirety of his 11-year career in Portland and is coming off a personal-best 32.2 PPG average in 2022-23.

Nevertheless, Lillard is turning 33 in July and is eager to make a championship push. As for the Blazers, they've missed the postseason in back-to-back years and recently opted against packaging the No. 3 pick in the 2023 NBA draft for win-now talent in favor of drafting guard Scoot Henderson.

With Lillard and the Blazers appearing to be on different wavelengths, trading the star point guard looks to be in the best interest of all parties.

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