Damian Lillard Doesn’t Want To Be Taken Out Of Context When Talking About Kyrie Irving And LeBron

Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers have been heavily linked to a potential pursuit of Carmelo Anthony. Lillard and fellow guard C.J. McCollum have not been shy about recruiting other players to join the Blazers this summer, as they want the organization to make the necessary moves to become a championship caliber team.

On Monday, Lillard did an interview with Sports Illustrated and the conversation turned to the recent revelation that Kyrie Irving had requested a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers. Lillard was asked about Irving reportedly pointing to him as an example of the kind of role Kyrie wants to have on a team and offered up his thoughts and expressed some confusion as to why Irving would want out of Cleveland.

Lillard seemed to be trying his best to be careful about speaking about reports of what Irving said in a meeting that no one knew for sure how true they were, wary of the pitfalls of saying the wrong thing.

“It’s a lot of hard work but I’m not even sure that’s true. But, I mean, who wouldn’t want to go the Finals every year? I think they’ve been to the Finals the last three years. I would love to do that.”

It’s a complimentary comment to what the Cavs have been able to do, and also a bit of confusion as to why Irving would want to leave a place where they win on that level consistently. Lillard was asked a follow-up question about if he would ever ask for a trade from a team that already included LeBron James and, again, did his best to offer an honest answer while acknowledging that he didn’t know what the situation was like that Irving was in.

“I don’t know because I’ve never played with LeBron. But just watching from the outside, you see how easy he makes the game for everybody else. I’m not sure what it’s like playing with LeBron the person, but the player… I don’t see why anybody wouldn’t want to play with him.”

Lillard’s comments were fair and measured, but, as will happen, got pulled into social media posts and Lillard didn’t seem thrilled with the way the interview was portrayed and pieces of quotes were lifted and presented.

In fact, he even exclaimed, when prompted about players not doing interviews down the line, that it might just be time for him to roll things back from a candor perspective.

Lillard’s apparent confusion with why Irving would want out of Cleveland and away from LeBron is a sentiment shared by many, and he even made a point to note that he’s speaking purely from the outside, with no knowledge of the inner workings of the Cavs or the dynamic between LeBron and Kyrie. Lillard’s honesty is appreciated and interesting within the full context of what he said, and hopefully he doesn’t follow through on his threat to limit interviews in the future.