Shams: Damian Lillard Returning to the Blazers on a 3-yr/$42M Deal

[canada_dry]

My take is he's always preferred to be a big fish in a little pond. And i agree with him, that's what he is.

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[EmpireFalls]

I just wish we had done this with Kemba.

Anyone hating on Dame for this doesn’t get it. Portland is home and he is the KING in Portland. No amount of money, and I’d argue not even a pity ring where he barely contributed, can make up for that. Sure, he’ll retire ringless. But that doesn’t matter as much as what legacy he’ll leave in Portland.

Heart warming stuff. I hope he does well there.

[Frank Dux]

Didn’t see this coming, but I absolutely love it.

[canada_dry]

What are they doing with scoot at this point?

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[RRyder823]

I see Dame doesn't want to win a ring.

Different players have different priorities. However, I have less respect for players who shy away from having higher expectations placed on their shoulders. He gets to avoid that by signing with Portland.

What kind of expectations did you think there were for a 36 year old comming off an achilles injury?

Dames getting paid and gets to play where hes happy. Good for him

From a basketball sense i think this makes very little sense for Portland

From PR and/or feel good sense though I get it from the organization and dont blame them

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[Pattycakes]

Didn’t see this coming, but I absolutely love it.

It was obvious from a mile away. Makes too much sense

[seren]

This is true commitment to tanking. Good job by Portland

[Capn'O]

I just wish we had done this with Kemba.

Anyone hating on Dame for this doesn’t get it. Portland is home and he is the KING in Portland. No amount of money, and I’d argue not even a pity ring where he barely contributed, can make up for that. Sure, he’ll retire ringless. But that doesn’t matter as much as what legacy he’ll leave in Portland.

Heart warming stuff. I hope he does well there.

Yup. He really likes it here.

As somebody who moved to Portland the year Dame was drafted and who also really likes it here... I'm in my feels right now.

[Pattycakes]

Just to recap we traded Dame for:

Dame
Jrue
Camara
Avdija
Multiple MIL picks post Giannis

*winning*

[liquidswords]

whoaaaa! so what the hell does this mean for Jrue and Scoot?

[Pattycakes]

whoaaaa! so what the hell does this mean for Jrue and Scoot?

Scoot to HoF learning from these 3 all time great pgs

[Lalouie]

he never wanted to leave in the first place. the media kept hounding him until he gave in,,,like after YEARS of asking him the same question overandoverandoverandoverandoverandover. not to mention espn and all the nba talk shows needing create the story to guarantee the move

so when he finally GAVE INTO THE PRESSURE, people started the false narrative of him demanding a forced trade. that was BS from the very start

the northwest (yes northern cali included) has been his home his whole life

I think more to the point, the team also drafted his replacement and traded away guys like Josh Hart that were helping them win games. They were showing him they were going in another direction. I do think he felt pushed out.

is this a chicken/egg thing though.
portland was hearing all the talk as well as dame.

the whole thing became a self-fulfilling prophesy. in essence if you're the org and you hear all the talk, talk which btw ultimately egged dame on, then there becomes every reason to EXPECT dame to move on

[PlatinumState]

I feel like portland moved on and started a youth movement and now they have to adjust around him when he starts playing. I doubt he's gonna come off the bench. Whats to gain from this from Portland's point of view, besides selling tickets in the short term I guess?

[grindtime22]

Very confused by the number. I thought anything his new team pays him comes out of what MIL owes him. I guess not because otherwise why the heck would any new team pay him this.

I've tried to tell people that it wasn't that simple. The offsets are (Salary-1yr VetMin) divided by 2.

The offsets will apply in year 1+2 of this contract.

If the salary is 14 million, then it would be 14-2.048494= $11,951,506. You then halve that for 5,975,753. That is what the Bucks can offset. Dame ends up with 8,024,247 in new money for year 1.

[Capn'O]

he never wanted to leave in the first place. the media kept hounding him until he gave in,,,like after YEARS of asking him the same question overandoverandoverandoverandoverandover. not to mention espn and all the nba talk shows needing create the story to guarantee the move

so when he finally GAVE INTO THE PRESSURE, people started the false narrative of him demanding a forced trade. that was BS from the very start

the northwest (yes northern cali included) has been his home his whole life

I think more to the point, the team also drafted his replacement and traded away guys like Josh Hart that were helping them win games. They were showing him they were going in another direction. I do think he felt pushed out.

is this a chicken/egg thing though.
portland was hearing all the talk as well as dame.

the whole thing became a self-fulfilling prophesy. in essence if you're the org and you hear all the talk, talk which btw ultimately egged dame on, then there becomes every reason to EXPECT dame to move on

I don't think so because moving on from Dame was the right move for the org but a bad PR move. I.e. they didn't really have the resources to build a contender with him and it was easier for them to push him away and have him ask for the trade than straight up say it.

[Pattycakes]

I feel like portland moved on and started a youth movement and now they have to adjust around him when he starts playing. I doubt he's gonna come off the bench. Whats to gain from this from Portland's point of view, besides selling tickets in the short term I guess?

Blazers in 4?

Greatest Blazer of all time just rejoined the franchise which now boasts one of the young best defensive teams in the league. Do the math

[Lalouie]

I feel like portland moved on and started a youth movement and now they have to adjust around him when he starts playing. I doubt he's gonna come off the bench

everyone will do what everyone can do.

portland is not a contender or close to it so however they choose to play dame i'm pretty sure he'll be all in
mainly,,,,,,,he'll retire as a blazer as it should have been in the first place

[monopoman]

I have a feeling Dame doesn't give a **** about joke rings, he wants a ring as one of the top two options on a team or not at all.

This was the perfect chance for Dame to run to a contending team like OKC or the Celtics with a team friendly contract, and try to be on the right team at the right time.

Players sometimes get so ring obsessed they don't care how they get it, but everyone knows rings only matter when your one of the best 3 players on a team.

[Dominator83]

Stings even more for Milwaukee though. They're paying both salary to Dame AND picks to Portland.....
For Dame to now play for Portland. Ouch

They weren't kidding about doing anything to try to keep Giannis to stay

The anti-Bucks spin you guys put on everything. This is good for us. We get a 5 million per year set off to our cap. So the damage is only 17.5 not 22.5 the next couple of years. The Bucks' owners are also off the hook for 28m in salary. So Portland did Milwaukee a favor.

In effect, the Bucks are actually getting paid to have Turner's services the next couple of years, before they pay essentially 50 per year for 2-3. You just heard it framed as 50/yr, which was disingenuous/half-truth.

I don't think thats how it works. Dame just gets to double-dip here. Its not like the amnesty provision where teams were able to bid an amount to take on and said amount off-sets the original teams debt (like when the Bulls amnestied Boozer's 15 mill, the Lakers took him on for 3 mill and the Bulls were then on the hook for 12)

[Dzon Dilindzer]

I bet he wishes he never left. This is actually pretty cool, props for not ring chasing too.

but he did ring chase, it just didnt work out

after the injury, he obviously didnt want to ring chase cause he knew he would have a diminished role (sort of like russell westbrook) and he simply didnt find value in possibly winning a chip as a role player, so he decided to go back to the trail blazers and retire there

trail blazers brought him to mentor scoot (first and foremost) and shae, but they also brought him back as a sign of gratitude for his contributions to the franchise (its a nice reunion story and i wish he never left, thats why i am resentful when it comes to him)