(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Damian Lillard is undisputedly one of the best players in the NBA, and as such, he deserves a team where he can make the most of his talents.
He’s stayed loyal to the Portland Trail Blazers organization for too long, especially in the player empowerment era when stars force their way out of their teams almost every year.
So, now that people have urged him to leave the rebuilding Blazers once and for all, NBA analyst Craig Carton argues that it was Lillard who failed the Blazers and not the other way around.
Carton says that great players are supposed to lead their teams to the playoffs, doubling down on his somewhat wild take.
Craig Carton says Damian Lillard has failed the Portland trailblazers
“Great players take their team to the playoffs.”
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) June 23, 2023
Well, actually, Lillard failed to lead the Blazers to the playoffs during his Rookie of the Year season.
He later took them to the postseason seven years in a row, despite having a subpar supporting cast, and even made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals.
Then, in 2021-22, he was forced to miss most of the campaign with an injury, only making 29 appearances, and the team blew the roster up by moving on from CJ McCollum.
Naturally, he failed to make the playoffs again last season without a co-star, so it’s not on him that the team couldn’t get the job done.
Lillard has single-handedly put the Blazers on the map and in playoff contention more often than not.
They failed him and were never able to give him the supporting cast he needed, and not vice versa.
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