Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers are dominating the NBA news cycle right now.
For years, fans, analysts, and even colleagues have urged Lillard to take his talents somewhere else, and that time has finally come.
Lillard is ready to play for another team, even requesting to be traded specifically to the Miami Heat.
However, NBA analyst Ric Bucher believes that move could be risky, as there would be no more room for excuses or margin for error for the remainder of his career.
Is Damian Lillard leaving Portland risky? ????@RicBucher weighs in pic.twitter.com/2qafeldAjl
— Speak (@SpeakOnFS1) July 5, 2023
Bucher cites Charles Barkley and James Harden’s careers as examples, as he believes NBA fans tend to look at them differently for leaving their teams to pursue a championship and still failing to deliver.
Lillard’s pressure to win the whole thing with a team like the Heat or Milwaukee Bucks would be higher than ever, and his reputation could take a toll and a turn he might never be able to recover from.
Even so, it would be tough to blame him for wanting to leave, especially considering that’s exactly what everybody’s been telling him to do for years now.
Everybody in the league seems to get a free pass for ring-chasing at least once.
It’s when they do it over and over that it becomes a talking point, as it’s been with Harden or even Kevin Durant.
But Lillard has earned the right to at least give it a shot and play meaningful games at least once in his career, regardless of how it might stain his reputation or not.
NEXT: Damian Lillard’s Agent Has Reportedly Been Sending A Message To Teams
