If the NBA resumes the 2019-20 season and shortens the season by 12 games, don’t expect Damian Lillard to be out there.
The Portland Trail Blazers star is already aware of his next move as he threatened to sit out the remainder of the regular season if his squad has no chance to make the postseason.
(Yahoo Sports)
“If we come back and they’re just like, ‘We’re adding a few games to finish the regular season,’ and they’re throwing us out there for meaningless games and we don’t have a true opportunity to get into the playoffs, I’m going to be with my team because I’m a part of the team. But I’m not going to be participating. I’m telling you that right now. And you can put that [expletive] in there,” Lillard told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday morning via phone.
“If we come back and I don’t have an opportunity to make the playoffs, I will show up to work, I’ll be at practice and I’ll be with my team. I’m going to do all that [expletive] and then I’m going to be sitting right on that bench during the games,” Lillard told Yahoo Sports. “If they come back and say it’s something like a tournament, play-in style, between the No. 7 and No. 12 seeds, if we’re playing for playoff spots, then I think that’s perfect.”
Portland was 29-37 and currently in the No. 9 spot in the Western Conference, which had them 3.5 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth and final playoff seed.
“I just feel like that would be the matchup people want to see,” Lillard said. “And not to say nobody wants to see Memphis, because they’re in the eighth and they’ve been in the eighth spot for a while. They’ve earned that. You can’t take anything away from Memphis. They play hard, they’re exciting and they’ve got a lot of young talent. The Lakers would have their hands full playing against them. Memphis beat the Lakers this year. Memphis would have nothing to lose. I feel like both series could be a little bit hectic for the Lakers, but I think more so us, because of the experience and where we are in our careers. Not too long ago, we played them in L.A. and obviously, I had a great game and we won a close one, and in the playoffs, I’m sure they would come up with some type of game plan to not allow that to happen. But I want to compete. That’s what we want.”
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In 58 games this season, Lillard was averaging 28.9 points on .457 shooting with 7.8 assists and 4.3 boards over 36.9 minutes a night.
