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Blazers' Damian Lillard is Confident He Won't Land With Lakers in a Trade

The entire NBA, especially the Sixers, are monitoring the Damian Lillard situation out in Portland. As the Trail Blazers hired Chancey Billups as the team's

Justin Grasso

Blazers' Damian Lillard is Confident He Won't Land With Lakers in a Trade
Blazers' Damian Lillard is Confident He Won't Land With Lakers in a Trade /

The entire NBA, especially the Sixers, are monitoring the Damian Lillard situation out in Portland. As the Trail Blazers hired Chancey Billups as the team's next head coach and apparently struck out on getting some of the guys they wanted to surround Lillard with, many believe it's only a matter of time before Lillard gets traded.

At this point in the offseason, Lillard hasn't requested a trade. While that can certainly change later on as the regular season approaches, Lillard is sure of one thing; the Blazers point guard is not going to end up with the Los Angeles Lakers.

As an athlete who tends to check his Twitter frequently, Lillard always seems to stumble upon comments either directly to him or related to him. Sometimes, the Blazers star will go out of his way to respond.

On Thursday, Lillard did just that. As he stumbled across a comment that asked NBA fans how much they would bet regarding Lillard's future as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, the Blazers star himself would confidently put a million dollars on that scenario never happening.

When the Damian Lillard trade rumors began this offseason, the Lakers, as expected, were one of many teams linked to the star guard. Like most championship contenders, the Lakers are frequently a potential landing spot for most star players that hit the trade block.

But judging based on Lillard's last tweet, he seems more than confident he won't be donning the purple and gold this season. Is he confident because he believes he's not leaving Portland anytime soon? 

Or is he confident because he won't be urging the Blazers to deal him to the Lakers? If his confidence stems from the former, then that's bad news for the Sixers, who seem to be willing to go all-in for the Portland superstar this offseason. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.

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Justin Grasso
JUSTIN GRASSO

Title: Credentialed writer/reporter covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s FanNation Email: JustinGrasso32@Gmail.com Location: Philadelphia, PA Expertise: Reporting, insight, and analysis on the Sixers and the NBA  Justin Grasso is a credentialed writer and publisher covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s FanNation.  Grasso got his start in sports media in 2016 with FantasyPros, working the news desk, providing game-by-game player analysis and updates on the Portland Trail Blazers and the Golden State Warriors. By 2017, he joined FanSided’s Philadelphia Eagles site as a staff writer. After spending one season covering the Eagles as a staff writer, Grasso was promoted to become the site’s Co-Editor. For the next two NFL seasons, he covered the Eagles closely before broadening his NFL coverage. For a brief stint, Grasso covered the NFL on a national basis after joining Heavy.com as an NFL news desk writer. In 2019, Grasso joined the 76ers' beat on a part-time basis, stepping into a role with South Jersey’s 97.3 ESPN. Ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA season, he concluded a three-year stint covering the Eagles and joined the Sixers beat full-time. Grasso has covered the 76ers exclusively since then for Sports Illustrated. He is a member of the Pro Basketball Writer’s Association.  Twitter: @JGrasso_ Instagram: @JGrassoNBA

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