Sports World Reacts To The Damian Lillard Announcement

Damian Lillard won't be the next NBA star to change teams before Thursday afternoon's trade deadline.

According to Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report, the Portland Trail Blazers "unequivocally" told teams the All-Star point guard is not available.

It's a familiar refrain, so nobody is surprised that Portland is again shutting down trade inquiries for Lillard.

"Imagine being told by your GM or team president to call and inquire about whether Dame is available in a trade," Rod Beard of The Detroit News wrote. "Now you know how those telemarketers feel when they have to cold-call."

"Folks (front office execs included) just need to accept that Dame is never leaving Portland and, therefore, he’s never winning a championship," The Athletic's James Boyd wrote. "As long as he’s at peace with that, it is what it is."

"Reckless shot shooting across the NBA right now," Celtics Wire's Cameron Tabatabaie said.

"Ah yes…the yearly loyalty quote coming soon from Damian Lillard," Golden Knight GFX speculated.

NBA teams out of the title picture often struggle to retain superstars, so trade speculation surrounding Lillard routinely resurfaces. However, he hasn't expressed any desire to leave a Portland team that hasn't won a playoff series since making the Western Conference Finals in 2019.

The Blazers are fighting for playoff positioning at 27-28, and they traded Josh Hart to the New York Knicks on Wednesday night. Other teams apparently hoped that was a harbinger of a full teardown, but Dame reportedly isn't going anywhere.