Damian Lillard says he would rather ‘lose every year’ than wear the Golden State jersey

Ever since July 1, Damian Lillard has been pushing his team to trade him out of Portland and to Miami. So much speculation has surrounded this matter that some insiders have assured that the superstar would only report to either the Heat training camp or his current Trail Blazers squad. 

Up to this point, the veteran hadn’t addressed any possiblity of playing for other franchises, until his latest appearance on “It Is What It Is” podcast with Cam’ron and Ma$e, who asked him if he would ever play for his hometown team in Golden State.

However, Lillard was very clear on his stance over someday wearing the Warriors jersey. The point guard is definitely not interested. “I respect what they’ve been doing over the last eight, nine years or whatever, and I’m from there, obviously. That’s home. But I can’t go be a part of that,” Lillard said. “They won four championships. What I look like going to try to do that?”

"I’d lose every year before I go.”

Damian Lillard explained why he could never join the Warriors to chase a ring like Kevin Duranthttps://t.co/X2KqTm5M2k

— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) September 19, 2023

The Portland star even went on to say that he would prefer to never win again instead of playing basketball in San Francisco. “I’d never do nothing like that,” he added. “I’d lose every year before I go.”

In this last week, many new suitors have appeared on the Trail Blazers’ radar, and apparently they’ve been open to negotiate. Chris Mannix appeared on “The Crossover NBA Podcast” and said he was optimistc of the Thunder’s chances of trading for Damian before the trade deadline.

“Trust me, I wrote this last week,” he said. “I believe I’m going to call this an educated opinion. That if Dame is still on that Blazers roster in January. And if OKC is overachieving. If they’re playing really well, don’t be surprised if they go out and make a run at Lillard.”

If this negotiation would come through, it is still hard to imagine Lillard inside a roster with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey, two expert ball-handlers.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski assures than Portland has been talking to many NBA teams about Lillard ever since September started

According to veteran insider Adian Wojnarowski, the Trail Blazers have “done a lot more talking with teams” concerning Dame’s trade, as the possibility of the player heading to South Beach seems more distant every day.

“My sense is that the Blazers have done a lot more talking with teams in the last, say 10 to 14 days, than they did probably in at least a month plus prior,” he shared. “A big part of that is the league is back to work now after Labor Day and training camp is starting to approach. And that’s the next real deadline in this process.”

Check out the video above to watch ESPN’s panel of experts discussing what conditions would make the superstar stay put in Portland.

“But I think Portland, what they’ve been trying to do is see how they could put together multi-team deals that would get them the assets that they would want. Draft picks, young players. There might be a team that their best asset is a veteran player that doesn’t interest the Blazers, but there’s a third team who might want to take on that veteran and then send whether it’s a young player or picks in part to Portland,” Wojnarowski concluded.