Damian Lillard won’t be a free agent again until 2021, as the Blazers have their star point guard locked up for four more years on his five-year, $140 million deal that kicked in last offseason. Lillard has become the face of Portland basketball and is very happy with the Blazers, but, understanding that basketball is a business, he knows he might not be there forever.
Lillard insists he wants to be in Portland for as long as they’ll have him, and he’s been actively pushing for Portland to bring in more stars to play alongside he and C.J. McCollum — namely Paul George. But should something happen where they either want to trade him or let him walk in free agency in four years, he already knows what his top destinations outside of Portland will be.
The Blazers star gave an honest answer about where he’d want to play if he weren’t on the Blazers on Wednesday via Twitter, and the response included one not-so-surprising answer and one you wouldn’t expect from the Oakland native.
If blazers said they didn't want me… Utah Jazz or Lakers https://t.co/jep3V9qRsS
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) June 14, 2017
The Lakers are a dream destination for a lot of NBA players. Their history, both recent and long ago, has given them a national footprint where they have fans everywhere. This generation of up and coming superstars were kids that grew up wanting to be like Kobe Bryant and play in L.A. So, to see Lillard, a California native, say the Lakers comes as little surprise.
However, to see a superstar in this league say that the Utah Jazz were in his top two dream destination is certainly a bit of a stunner. The Jazz have a very good young core right now, so it’s understandable why a point guard would see a roster with Derrick Favors, Rudy Gobert, Gordon Hayward (if he stays), and Rodney Hood and feel like that’d be a great opportunity. However, Salt Lake City is not considered an NBA hotspot for players, but Lillard appears to be a fan of Utah and you can bet it makes Jazz fans feel pretty good to see a star mention their team as a place he’d want to play.
While all that is nice, we won’t see Lillard have a chance to make that decision for at least four more years. If things fall apart in Portland before then and they want to move him, he won’t have much say in where he goes. But for those in Utah and L.A. interested in the longview, when 2021 free agency rolls around, you can hope that Lillard will still be interested in coming to your city.
