Portland drafted Scoot Henderson as the general quantity three choose on Wednesday and all eyes are actually on Damian Lillard.
Dame made it very clear he doesn’t need to stick round if the crew goes right into a rebuild or wait two or three years for younger expertise to develop.
By deciding on Scoot and never buying and selling him, the Blazers have put Lillard’s future below a cloud.
“As of proper now, all indicators level to Scoot Henderson being there,” NBA Insider Shams Charania stated. “I’m advised a number of groups, together with the New Orleans Pelicans, reached out and Portland confirmed no real interest in shifting him.”
As for Lillard, he’s set to present Portland extra time to construct a contending crew and can take the following week to mull it throughout, Shams says.
“I’m advised the timeline for when the longer term will land with Damian Lillard possible extends now between tonight and the beginning of free company and into free company,” stated Charania.
On Henderson’s half, he’s very eager to play with Dame and stated as a lot after he went quantity three.
“Yeah, I’m hoping to get to play with Dame, for certain,” Henderson stated. “Particular expertise, particular guard. One in every of my favorites to look at, particularly film-wise. Simply to pick how he strikes off the courtroom, as properly. Yeah, it will be cool to play with him.”
Lillard has dominated the headlines for weeks, particularly after he stated if he needed to choose any crew to go to he would select Miami.
All of the hypothesis of Dame leaving could also be in vein although, as a result of apparently Lillard and Scoot have been in touch.
Scoot stated he texted Dame after he was drafted, so possibly Dame will stick round in any case.
Lillard will likely be 33 in July and signed a two-year $122 million extension in 2022 that takes him as much as the 25-26 season with the Path Blazers.
Except he asks for a commerce after all.
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