‘Hell no,’ Damian Lillard doesn’t want to play for the Warriors
LeBron James went home to Cleveland last summer. Dwyane Wade went home to Chicago this summer, after Joakim Noah went back to New York and Jeff Teague went back to Indianapolis (and his parents’ basement). With all these players booking return trips, one fan wondered which NBA star would be next to head back to his hometown to ply his trade for the local club:
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So everyone in the #NBA is going to their hometown team? @Dame_Lillard @J1Flight y'all next??? #Oakland
— javonne b. (@TheRealVonnie) July 13, 2016
… and Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard — the pride of Oakland, which also happens to be home to a certain reloaded super-team — answered in no uncertain terms that it wouldn’t be him:
Hell no https://t.co/nugsDOd4q8
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) July 13, 2016
… which, y’know, makes sense, considering Dame’s about to begin the five-year maximum-salaried contract extension, reportedly worth nearly $140 million, that he signed last summer to be the cornerstone of the Blazers through the end of the 2020-21 season.
Maybe things’d be different if Lillard were about to hit unrestricted free agency on the business end of nine title-less years, or had reached unrestricted free agency after taking less than his full max for years and feeling disrespected by his longtime employer. But with a long-term max, a team rebuilt around him by ace general manager Neil Olshey, a great head coach in Terry Stotts and a young, athletic, hungry roster aiming to improve on last year’s surprising second-round postseason finish, there’s no real reason for Lillard to entertain a return to Oakland … especially since, y’know, the Golden State Warriors already have a point guard. You might’ve heard of him.
Likewise, then, there’s no real risk in Dame saying so firmly and unwaveringly that he’s not interested in a homecoming. Well, at least, not right now. If things change in a few years’ time, though …
Now everybody wanna play for the heat and the Lakers? Let's go back to being competitive and going at these peoples!
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) July 16, 2010
… well, sometimes stuff changes. For now, though, Dame’s much more concerned with trying to beat the Warriors than join them, and Blazers fans wouldn’t have it any other way.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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