LaMarcus Aldridge Believes His Departure Was 'Great' For Damian Lillard
LaMarcus Aldridge has only looming regret about his nine-year tenure with the Trail Blazers: That he didn't have a better relationship with Damian Lillard.
In a sprawling discussion with Shams Charania of The Athletic, Aldridge shed light on why he and Lillard never developed the partnership that might have made him stay in Portland.
"The only thing I look back on is I wish I would have worked at it better to have a relationship with Dame (Lillard)," he said. "I feel like we both had our circles talking to us. Maybe that helped stifle our relationship, but we definitely have gotten a better relationship since then. But I think just trying to get a better relationship with him."
Aldridge expressed frustration at Blazers management for initially putting him third in the organizational pecking order behind Brandon Roy and Greg Oden. Once they succumbed to career-altering injuries, Aldridge suggested that officially becoming "the man" for the Blazers made him a bit wary of Lillard's arrival and subsequent rise.
"I just feel like I wish Dame and I would’ve talked more and tried to develop a better relationship," he said. "Part of it was he was young, trying to find his way, and I had worked so hard to get to this spot I was at. I wish I would have worked harder … the only regret I have is I wish I would have worked harder to have a relationship with Dame."
Aldridge and Lillard played three seasons together in Rip City, leading the Blazers to the playoffs in 2014 and 2015. The former signed with the San Antonio Spurs as a free agent in the summer of 2015, bucking expectations that he'd re-up long-term in Portland.
Aldridge and Lillard never had an outwardly contentious relationship. In the years after he joined the Spurs, both players began lamenting how their time as teammates ended. Aldridge even considered coming back to Portland after he was bought out by San Antonio earlier this season, ultimately signing with the Brooklyn Nets before a recurrence of career-long heart issues forced him to retire in April.
Aldridge believes a trio of he, Lillard and C.J. McCollum, whose breakout 2015-16 campaign came the season after Aldridge left, could've done great things for the Blazers.
"So you put us all three together, and the sky could definitely be the limit," he said.
As intriguing as that theoretical Big Three is on paper, though, Aldridge knows his departure ultimately made Lillard a better player – the global superstar and franchise icon he couldn't have been with an alpha like Aldridge around.
"I’m more of a realist too, though and I feel like me leaving was great for Dame because then he wasn’t having to share it with me anymore, a dominant personality," he said. "It was his. Then he really exploded and took off and really started to put his stamp on the franchise and his stamp on the game. So things happen for a reason."
[Shams Charania, The Athletic]