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

52-12-7 · Post #141 » by **52-12-7** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:08 pm

Welcome back legend! I just hope you come off the bench and let our young guys develop

Profound23 · Post #142 » by **Profound23** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:09 pm

Smart man...they were saying Boston or GS and I just didn't see the fit.

JRoy · Post #143 » by **JRoy** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:09 pm

WiggOuts wrote:
Dominator83 wrote: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

This seems totally unfair and shouldn't be allowed

I’m in the minority but I agree.

Pattycakes · Post #144 » by **Pattycakes** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:12 pm

JRoy wrote:
WiggOuts wrote:
Dominator83 wrote: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

This seems totally unfair and shouldn't be allowed

I’m in the minority but I agree.

ROFL some kind of blazers fan you are.

Jk. But seriously our franchise has had the worst luck by far in this storied league.. let someone else be the best worst from now on. Milwaukee, here’s the crown.

DC_Melo · Post #145 » by **DC_Melo** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:16 pm

MrTribbiani wrote:
JujitsuFlip wrote:
MrTribbiani wrote: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.
This is bigger than basketball lol the dude would sit and cry because he missed his children.

Outside of calling it quits, this the ultimate family move.

He could have brought his family with him to Milwaukee.

Lillard just doesn't have much of that championship grindset. It's not the end of the world, most players don't have much of that championship grindset anyway.

He actually couldn’t. Dame and his wife got divorced just before his trade to the Bucks. She stayed in Oregon and due to parental laws that meant the kids stay in Oregon too.

The only way for Dame to be with his kids full time is to live in Oregon, which makes his motivation to return to the Blazers pretty obvious. Maybe he just views his kids as more important than a title?

DusterBuster · Post #146 » by **DusterBuster** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:18 pm

Profound23 wrote:Smart man...they were saying Boston or GS and I just didn't see the fit.

I still the Boston made sense if he made a ring a priority.

He prioritized family. Haynes - the closest reporter to him - said the hardest part of his Milwaukee experience was being away from family. That the Blazers were willing to offer him a contract probably made it a lot easier decision. Instead of being a late stage Blake Griffin, he goes "home" to be a "hero", rehab close to family, and then decide where he wants to go after that. He knows the Blazers FO won't make a deal without working with him (unlike Milwaukee where he was blindsided or literally anywhere else - no Bucks shade), if he comes back and has some things left in the tank and wants a ring, the Blazers will move him there for pennies on the dollar since him coming back is like finding 10 bucks in a couch cushion... so there's no real downside for either party here.

The Blazers FO doesn't care what the books look like over the next 2-3 years as long as it's not over the 2nd apron for the next half decade. They just want to find a seller for the team...

Which... by the way... looking at the Blazers moves this offseason through a buyers mindset... you just picked the best prospect arguably since Yi Jianlian and Yao with Yan Hansen, so you picked up a good 30-100k new fans there. Then you bring back a franchise icon for the next 2-3 years in Dame to create ticket sales. You're setting up the team to excite a buyer like none other - even if inconsequentially....

This city is blowing up with excitement, even if the basketball side is - w/e.

mitchco · Post #147 » by **mitchco** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:19 pm

Yank3525 wrote:Good for him!

There are a lot of ringless all-time great players (ex. Westbrook, AI etc.) who's legacies would be better off if they had just stayed with their original teams. Rings are important, but him winning a ring as some role player on a contender wasn't going to do anything for his legacy. Like how many people care about the ring Gary Payton won in Miami?

Get healthy, Dame and finish your HOF career on a high note.

I care. GP hit some huge shots in the Finals.

Post #148 » by **Capn'O** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:19 pm

PDX is gonna be LIT this weekend. Wheeeeee!!!!

drone3 · Post #149 » by **drone3** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:19 pm

DC_Melo wrote:
MrTribbiani wrote:
JujitsuFlip wrote:This is bigger than basketball lol the dude would sit and cry because he missed his children.

Outside of calling it quits, this the ultimate family move.

He could have brought his family with him to Milwaukee.

Lillard just doesn't have much of that championship grindset. It's not the end of the world, most players don't have much of that championship grindset anyway.

He actually couldn’t. Dame and his wife got divorced just before his trade to the Bucks. She stayed in Oregon and due to parental laws that meant the kids stay in Oregon too.

The only way for Dame to be with his kids full time is to live in Oregon, which makes his motivation to return to the Blazers pretty obvious. Maybe he just views his kids as more important than a title?

Lol.. any normal human values their kids more than a title

WiggOuts · Post #150 » by **WiggOuts** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:26 pm

Pattycakes wrote:
JRoy wrote:
WiggOuts wrote:This seems totally unfair and shouldn't be allowed

I’m in the minority but I agree.

ROFL some kind of blazers fan you are.

Jk. But seriously our franchise has had the worst luck by far in this storied league.. let someone else be the best worst from now on. Milwaukee, here’s the crown.

I couldn't agree more, if there's anyone that deserves some good fortune to make up for the past its POR fans. I'm not even mad at this. You guys basically traded Dame to MIL and ended up with both trade packages lmao, u should at least have to give back Camara lol

Post #151 » by **HMFFL** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:28 pm

I would like Dame to get Yang Hansen in the studio.

Post #152 » by **DaVoiceMaster** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:29 pm

phanman wrote:Come someone make sense how he is getting 70m when the bucks stretched him?

Wouldn't that make it the 22.5m + 14m?

Lillard is being paid this year and next, as if he were still under that same contract with Milwaukee. However, they're stretching that contract on the books (only) over 5-years.

MrTribbiani · Post #153 » by **MrTribbiani** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:41 pm

DC_Melo wrote:
MrTribbiani wrote:
JujitsuFlip wrote:This is bigger than basketball lol the dude would sit and cry because he missed his children.

Outside of calling it quits, this the ultimate family move.

He could have brought his family with him to Milwaukee.

Lillard just doesn't have much of that championship grindset. It's not the end of the world, most players don't have much of that championship grindset anyway.

He actually couldn’t. Dame and his wife got divorced just before his trade to the Bucks. She stayed in Oregon and due to parental laws that meant the kids stay in Oregon too.

The only way for Dame to be with his kids full time is to live in Oregon, which makes his motivation to return to the Blazers pretty obvious. Maybe he just views his kids as more important than a title?

Didn't know that.

Different folks have different priorities in life.

Post #154 » by **NO-KG-AI** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:44 pm

I really don’t think Dame was mentally prepared to play for a team where it was title or bust. He was very comfortable playing with house money, taking none of the blame since the teams weren’t that great, and taking little jabs and snipes on twitter.

Not to say he’s scared or not championship level, but I think some guys really don’t know what they are in for when they leave their home that deified them.

Bob Ross · Post #155 » by **Bob Ross** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:45 pm

Wow! What an awesome story. I genuinely love this

___Rand___ · Post #156 » by **___Rand___** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:51 pm

Why would Blazers sign him? Makes no sense.

monopoman · Post #157 » by **monopoman** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:51 pm

DusterBuster wrote:
HMFFL wrote:The Allen doing what they think is best for Portland. Great job!

The team ia for sale, Adam Silver says they need a new arena, so the Allen family gives Portland something to be happy about.

The Allen group doesn't give a **** whats happening. They're checked out and focused on the sale (as they should). Cronin has a blank check and doing what he wants, that's clear.

I mean you could argue the Blazers value just went up drafting the biggest player in China since Yao Ming, and then after that getting a former all-time great Blazer that will help put butts in the seats.

The Blazers are working overtime trying to get the value up on this team.

1993Playoffs · Post #158 » by **1993Playoffs** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:52 pm

Awful for portland

BeatDaCavs420 · Post #159 » by **BeatDaCavs420** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:53 pm

LMAO I FELT THIS!

monopoman · Post #160 » by **monopoman** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:56 pm

NO-KG-AI wrote:I really don’t think Dame was mentally prepared to play for a team where it was title or bust. He was very comfortable playing with house money, taking none of the blame since the teams weren’t that great, and taking little jabs and snipes on twitter.

Not to say he’s scared or not championship level, but I think some guys really don’t know what they are in for when they leave their home that deified them.

Dame's Bucks team was plagued by injury, it felt like anytime they were starting to make things work either Giannis or Dame would be injured at a key time.

Kind of hard to really pin blame there, it would be like dogging on Steph if he couldn't win with all his best players injured.