Kevin Durant took a lot of heat this summer when he joined the Golden State Warriors in free agency, a team that had just ousted his Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals. Critics — especially of the older variety — see super teams as taking the easy way out. But there are still a lot of young players today who share that old-school sensibility.
Damian Lillard is one such example. In a recent interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio, the Blazers star point guard explained why he would never join a super team by pointing to his perpetual underdog status as a much-needed source of inspiration. The audio clip is below.
“When people do it, that’s their decision,” Lillard said. “I wouldn’t do it. That’s just not who I am. I might have too much pride for that or be too much of a competitor where I couldn’t bring myself to do it. But it also makes it more fun. You get to take a monster down, and that’s always fun.”
https://soundcloud.com/siriusxmnba/damian-lillard-on-wanting-to-take-down-super-teams
This isn’t the first time Lillard has balked at the notion of joining a super team. When a Twitter follower asked him about it earlier this summer in the wake of Durant’s decision, he had a rather pithy response. Of course, a lot of players have said similar things over the years and later changed their tune. Let’s wait and check back with Lillard at the end of his current contract if the Blazers haven’t managed to win a title by then.
