Shams: Dame Lillard, Blazers Close to 2-Yr/$120M Max Extension

[benhillboy]

Tough times for Blazers fans man I feel for y’all. I dug those Adleman teams and Brandon Roy was the man.

Fun fact: This upcoming season Lilliard is making more than twice what Terry Porter made in his career. Terry Porter had 7 career triple doubles. Lilliard has 1.

The blazers paid him $3M as a rookie to lead the league in minutes. Now they have to pay $60M when it’s literally impossible for him to lead the league in anything. Add in the possibility that Hart, Payton, and Grant are all gonna hate playing with a dude who never screens, cuts, or defends (and makes $18M more than they do combined) and it’s gonna get ugly sooner than later.

Not sure what Terry Porter triple doubles have to do with anything. Lillard is twice the player he was.

You’ve got it exactly backwards; Hart, Payton, Grant were brought in to fit with Lillard, not vice versa.

I would have preferred to blow the whole thing up and start over but here we are.

Terry Porter’s career on/off is +8.3 and +3.2. Lilliard’s is +3.1 and -4.2. So no he certainly isn’t “twice the player.” He’s a ticket seller to casuals, nothing more. He’s shown no value to sustaining solid basketball operations.

Have you seen how seamlessly Hart has fit into NY or how bad the Warriors wanted Payton back? Trust me they wanted to be gone even worse. Grant’s departure upcoming sooner than later.

If you can read body language (and not lame cliched stock answers to softball questions) you’d know Lilliard’s teammates have always been indifferent to him.

[KyRo23]

I don't know how this guy did it, but he gets the benefit of being "loyal" with no expectations. More power to him, but Jesus, does any other player of his caliber get as many breaks as him when it comes to team success?

[Ballerhogger]

2022-23: $42m

2023-24: $46m

2024-25: $49m player option

2025-26: ~$59m

2026-27: ~$63m

Insanity . He only getting older

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I don't know how this guy did it, but he gets the benefit of being "loyal" with no expectations. More power to him, but Jesus, does any other player of his caliber get as many breaks as him when it comes to team success?

He had the Blazers with the longest playoff streak of all teams until last year, which yeah we only made the WCF once in that stretch but many of those times were because we ran directly into the Warriors dynasty time after time.

Of course we all would love a better resume than that, but it is totally unfair to say he didn't ever meet a good number of expectations. And this year I don't think anyone can accuse him of not doing everything he can.

[KodiakBear]

I don't know how this guy did it, but he gets the benefit of being "loyal" with no expectations. More power to him, but Jesus, does any other player of his caliber get as many breaks as him when it comes to team success?

Yep. He gets a lot of loyalty points, but doesn't get the other end of the stick where he has to win. That's why I said the other day Portland should really think about trading him before his value drops. That contract is horrible over the next few years. You can't win with him now and he is only going to get worse. It has already been shown free agents don't want to go there so you are going to have to draft well. Trade him for picks, tank a season or two and start over. You aren't making the playoffs with him anyway.

[JRoy]

Tough times for Blazers fans man I feel for y’all. I dug those Adleman teams and Brandon Roy was the man.

Fun fact: This upcoming season Lilliard is making more than twice what Terry Porter made in his career. Terry Porter had 7 career triple doubles. Lilliard has 1.

The blazers paid him $3M as a rookie to lead the league in minutes. Now they have to pay $60M when it’s literally impossible for him to lead the league in anything. Add in the possibility that Hart, Payton, and Grant are all gonna hate playing with a dude who never screens, cuts, or defends (and makes $18M more than they do combined) and it’s gonna get ugly sooner than later.

Not sure what Terry Porter triple doubles have to do with anything. Lillard is twice the player he was.

You’ve got it exactly backwards; Hart, Payton, Grant were brought in to fit with Lillard, not vice versa.

I would have preferred to blow the whole thing up and start over but here we are.

Terry Porter’s career on/off is +8.3 and +3.2. Lilliard’s is +3.1 and -4.2. So no he certainly isn’t “twice the player.” He’s a ticket seller to casuals, nothing more. He’s shown no value to sustaining solid basketball operations.

Have you seen how seamlessly Hart has fit into NY or how bad the Warriors wanted Payton back? Trust me they wanted to be gone even worse. Grant’s departure upcoming sooner than later.

If you can read body language (and not lame cliched stock answers to softball questions) you’d know Lilliard’s teammates have always been indifferent to him.

I’ve seen plenty of TP and he was a fine player but Lillard is several echelons better as a player.

Lillard has never had a team close to the Drexlers Blazers.

A team with TP as the best player would be the worst team in the league.

[timO]

2022-23: $42m

2023-24: $46m

2024-25: $49m player option

2025-26: ~$59m

2026-27: ~$63m

lottery time

but hey, he put stats out there

[Dominator83]

I don't know how this guy did it, but he gets the benefit of being "loyal" with no expectations. More power to him, but Jesus, does any other player of his caliber get as many breaks as him when it comes to team success?

Yep. He gets a lot of loyalty points, but doesn't get the other end of the stick where he has to win. That's why I said the other day Portland should really think about trading him before his value drops. That contract is horrible over the next few years. You can't win with him now and he is only going to get worse. It has already been shown free agents don't want to go there so you are going to have to draft well. Trade him for picks, tank a season or two and start over. You aren't making the playoffs with him anyway.

Yep. And not to mention their 1st rounder for the next several years is handcuffed because they owe the Bulls a lottery protected pick till 2028. I mean sure that's great for getting out of paying the debt, but for a team in their position the trade off is much worse of not being able to trade multiple 1sts for a 2nd legit star to put with Lillard. Like if they had their picks available to trade , perhaps they could have made a competitive offer for KD? Simons Sharpe and picks. Then Lillard would have been a #2 which is really what he is on a championship team.

[lonzo_pelota]

well over a million a week sheesh

[Revived]

I don't know how this guy did it, but he gets the benefit of being "loyal" with no expectations. More power to him, but Jesus, does any other player of his caliber get as many breaks as him when it comes to team success?

There was an NBA exec that said this the other day and it’s true, “it’s easy to be loyal when you’re making so much damn $$”.

If either Lillard or Beal were that committed to winning with Blazers/Wizards, I’d like to have seen either one take a paycut so that both teams can use that $$ to put a better team around them and compete.

At the end of the day neither Lillard or Beal are “loyal”….they simply decided to stay with the team that can pay them the most $$.

[JulesWinnfield]

I don't know how this guy did it, but he gets the benefit of being "loyal" with no expectations. More power to him, but Jesus, does any other player of his caliber get as many breaks as him when it comes to team success?

Mitch Richmond is in the HOF and was seen as the 2nd or 3rd best SG pretty much perennially for a decade despite playing on nothing but horrible teams. Golden State got better after moving him. Only made the playoffs one time in his entire Sacramento career and got bounced right away. No one held it against him, in fact they cried for him and his situation. Poor Mitch Richmond. As soon as he got traded for Webber the Kings became a powerhouse

[Flash4thewin]

I don't know how this guy did it, but he gets the benefit of being "loyal" with no expectations. More power to him, but Jesus, does any other player of his caliber get as many breaks as him when it comes to team success?

There was an NBA exec that said this the other day and it’s true, “it’s easy to be loyal when you’re making so much damn $$”.

If either Lillard or Beal were that committed to winning with Blazers/Wizards, I’d like to have seen either one take a paycut so that both teams can use that $$ to put a better team around them and compete.

At the end of the day neither Lillard or Beal are “loyal”….they simply decided to stay with the team that can pay them the most $$.

Have you seen how both teams operate? Also it’s not a players job to go take pay cuts to make a teams job easier, that’s what a GM and front office are paid to do.

[Courant]

I don't know how this guy did it, but he gets the benefit of being "loyal" with no expectations. More power to him, but Jesus, does any other player of his caliber get as many breaks as him when it comes to team success?

Mitch Richmond is in the HOF and was seen as the 2nd or 3rd best SG pretty much perennially for a decade despite playing on nothing but horrible teams. Golden State got better after moving him. Only made the playoffs one time in his entire Sacramento career and got bounced right away. No one held it against him, in fact they cried for him and his situation. Poor Mitch Richmond. As soon as he got traded for Webber the Kings became a powerhouse

1.) Golden State didn't get better by trading Mitch Richmond to Sacramento for the draft rights for Billy Owens in 1992. In Richmond's final season, the 1990-91 Warriors went to the Western Conference semifinals. The 1992 season saw the Warriors getting eliminated in the first round, then injuries devastated the 1993 team so badly that the Warriors ended up in the lottery with the No. 3 overall pick (which Golden State traded to Orlando to acquire the draft rights to Chris Webber).

After making the first round of the 1994 playoffs, the Warriors went 12 years before making the playoffs again (the 2006-07 team with Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, Stephen Jackson and Monta Ellis). So I do not understand how Golden State "got better" by trading Richmond for a flameout lottery pick in Owens.

2.) After Michael Jordan and peak Clyde Drexler, the other top shooting guards in the 1990s were not considered among the elite players in the NBA. Richmond was more like a top 25 player (a good No. 2 player placed with a bad franchise), so there was a noticeable drop-off between Jordan and Drexler to Richmond.

3.) Players in the 1990s didn't have the leverage to force teams to trade them, the way players can do it in today's NBA. The changes in free agency, the collective bargaining agreement and the sheer size of contracts over the past 30 years make it easier for star players today to force trades. Richmond's peak salary in his Sacramento days was $3.5 million per year with rather rigid contract conditions; even if he wanted to force a trade (he never struck me as that type of player), Sacramento could wait him out (see the Scottie Pippen contract negotiations with Chicago as a prime example).

4.) Richmond never got the "he's loyal" treatment for his Sacramento years. It was more like the "he's trapped" moniker for being with a perpetually bad franchise that did not do well with building talent around him, and there was no clear way out unless a team wanted to overpay for him in a trade. By the time Washington traded for Richmond, he was past his prime and it was to another floundering franchise.

[ItsDanger]

Some players AND teams aren't really about winning or contending for a championship.

[Courant]

I don't know how this guy did it, but he gets the benefit of being "loyal" with no expectations. More power to him, but Jesus, does any other player of his caliber get as many breaks as him when it comes to team success?

Damian Lillard is well aware that as long as players such as Jerami Grant and Jusuf Nurkic are his best teammates, no one will place expectations for him to have team success. He also knows that he is playing in a small market with only one other sports franchise in town (the MLS Portland Timbers), and there are only a few sports franchises in the Northwest. Not to mention Lillard has never been regarded in the same light as LeBron James or Kevin Durant, a player whose presence automatically makes the team a perceived favorite to win a title.

So Lillard can get these large contract extensions in a relatively small market, and as long as he produces his numbers, he never will have expectations placed on him. That is why he said he does not believe in recruiting players; he knows expectations would increase if he did recruit players to play with him in Portland.

Lillard also knows that making the right statements about trade rumors and wanting to win in Portland will endear him to Blazers fans, which will overlook his large contracts and assume that's the cost of keeping a star player.

[ItsDanger]

Lillard will be 33 this summer. As great as he is on offense, he gives up a lot on defense. The best GM ever would be challenged to turn the roster into a legit contender in the given time frame. People should just call it like it is, some just like to keep status quo cash flow going. At $60M, most wouldn't behave differently. For their fans, they're participating in the sham and need to accept reality.

[SweetTouch]

Some players play for rings and to become legends

Others play for money and freestyles

[Bum Adebayo]

It's hilarious how many fans are now changing the narrative, they make it seem like it's better to ring chase like Lebron or Durant did than what Dame is doing. It's not Dame's fault, it's the FO's fault, period. He is having an amazing season, in fact, he has been the best offensive player this season with 8.11 ORPM, of course we know his defense is mediocre, but one just needs to put the right pieces around him to overcome that, something the FO absolutely failed to do over and over.

[MrBigShot]

Dame "I took all the" Dollas

Nobody on this forum would take less money than they're worth in the open market.

Ring chase and people get upset, stay loyal to the team that drafted you people get upset. Maybe Dame is happy with the life he built in Portland and is content to play out his career there.

[JulesWinnfield]

I don't know how this guy did it, but he gets the benefit of being "loyal" with no expectations. More power to him, but Jesus, does any other player of his caliber get as many breaks as him when it comes to team success?

Mitch Richmond is in the HOF and was seen as the 2nd or 3rd best SG pretty much perennially for a decade despite playing on nothing but horrible teams. Golden State got better after moving him. Only made the playoffs one time in his entire Sacramento career and got bounced right away. No one held it against him, in fact they cried for him and his situation. Poor Mitch Richmond. As soon as he got traded for Webber the Kings became a powerhouse

1.) Golden State didn't get better by trading Mitch Richmond to Sacramento for the draft rights for Billy Owens in 1992. The 1990-91 Warriors went to the Western Conference semifinals in Richmond's final season. The 1992 season saw the Warriors getting eliminated in the first round, then injuries devastated the 1993 team so badly the Warriors ended up in the lottery with the No. 3 overall pick (which Golden State traded to Orlando acquire the draft rights to Chris Webber).

After making the first round of the 1994 playoffs, the Warriors went 13 years before making the playoffs again (the 2006-07 team with Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, Stephen Jackson and Monta Ellis). So I'm not understanding how Golden State "got better" by trading Richmond for a flameout lottery pick in Owens.

2.) After Michael Jordan and peak Clyde Drexler, the other top shooting guards in the 1990s were not considered among the elite players in the NBA. Richmond was more like a top 25 player (a good No. 2 player placed with a bad franchise), so there was a noticeable drop-off between Jordan and Drexler to Richmond.

3.) Players in the 1990s didn't have the leverage to force teams to trade them, the way players can do it in today's NBA. The changes in free agency, the collective bargaining agreement and the sheer size of contracts over the past 30 years make it easier for star players today to force trades. Richmond's peak salary in his Sacramento days was $3.5 million per year with rather rigid contract conditions; even if he wanted to force a trade (he never struck me as that type of player), Sacramento could wait him out (see the Scottie Pippen contract negotiations with Chicago as a prime example).

4.) Richmond never got the "he's loyal" treatment for his Sacramento years. It was more like the "he's trapped" moniker for being with a perpetually bad franchise that did not do well with building talent around him, and there was no clear way out unless a team wanted to overpay for him in a trade. By the time Washington traded for Richmond, he was past his prime and it was to another floundering franchise.

It’s pretty lazy analysis to say they were better in 91 than 92 based solely on the basis of winning a best of 5 series, especially given how heavily matchups can come into play in a short series. The warriors won 55 games the year after trading Richmond. It’s worth noting that was at the time the second most in franchise history trailing only the ‘76 team. An 11 win improvement on their last season with him and any season with him for that matter. They were never ever even close to that good with him on a night in night out basis. That’s worth noting. They may have advanced one round further in their last season with Richmond, the only playoff series they would ever win with him on the team… but just about every metric would tell you the warriors were a better team in 92 after breaking up run , *significantly* so in the regular season. At the very least it’s impossible to make an argument that they got worse after dealing him unless you are just going to hang solely on the fact that they won a best of 5 series despite having a significantly less impressive regular season, and it’s not like they did anything other than get bounced quickly in round 2. Maybe if they made a deeper run you would have a case

I’d agree with all the other points on the differences between Lillard and Richmond