"If The Fans Wana Trade Me, Start The Petition And Send It In" - Damian Lillard Hopped On Twitter To Troll Fans Who Think The Blazers Need To Trade Him This Summer

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The Blazers have certainly had a rough couple days. First, they missed out on Wemby by a single Lottery ball

What a gut punch that had to be to be so close to a franchise changing talent only for Adam Silver the Basketball Gods to send him to the Spurs instead. For a minute there it looked like their decision to shut Dame down and tank was going to pay off. 

Instead, they're left with #3 and some obvious choices to make. If you listen to their new GM, the goal now is about using those assets to bring Dame some help

There lies the biggest question for this franchise. Which path do you go down? The absolute worst place you can be in today's NBA is stuck in the middle, also known as NBA Purgatory. Not good enough to truly contend, and not bad enough to find yourself in the high lottery. There are only so many Dame years left if the idea is finding him some legit help, because let's not forget how he was talking as recently as this past April

Sitting with the 3rd pick, if you look around Blazers Twitter you see both sides of the coin. Trade Dame for a legit package of players/assets and kick start your rebuild around Simons/Sharpe/#3/whatever you get for Dame. Given Dame's age and future contract situation

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I can certainly understand this line of thinking. If you aren't going to truly contend with Dame and whatever you can get for the 3rd pick and other assets, you may as well get a head start on your rebuild. That's fairly common across the league.

Dame's situation feels a little different though. We're talking about arguably the greatest Blazer ever if not #2 at the lowest. He's remained loyal through everything when today's NBA star player can't wait to demand a trade if things look like they might get tough. The question is, who is that impact player that is going to make that difference? I imagine anyone of that type of substance would require #3 AND a player like Simons, and that point are you even better off as Dame ages? Some of their fans don't think so and would rather move off Dame.

Looks to me like he's hearing all the noise

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Given what we know about Dame and how he usually is brutally honest, this probably was him just hopping on Twitter trolling everyone. He certainly has the time. I do think there's some validity to the idea where you might think your team is better off by trading him, but then reality hits. The potential idea of things like that is often WAY better than what actually happens if you pull the trigger. Are you even getting a full 100 cents on the dollar for an aging Dame with that price tag? What teams in the market can actually give you what you need in return and are also willing to take on that guaranteed money? That can't be that long of a list. 

Personally, as someone who does not have a rooting interest in the Blazers, I'm someone who wants to see Dame stay in Portland forever, just because of how rare that is in today's NBA. Guys don't stick around, especially if they haven't won. But after all the years of Dame saying he'll never ask out and he doesn't give a shit about a ring and all that stuff, it would be a bummer to see him end his career in a different jersey. I know we're in a bit of a Seinfeld situation with Dame and the Blazers

but I get why neither side wants to turn their key just yet. Who knows, maybe we get closer to the Draft and there's nothing of substance that they can flip the #3 pick for, so trading Dame is their only move if they want to improve this roster. I just think until you turn over every possible stone, you don't trade Dame. Make him demand a trade. He had one hell of a season this past year so he can clearly still play, and as we're seeing in this postseason, maybe just making the dance is good enough for a run. 

You never know.