Throughout his career, Damian Lillard has always made it clear that he wants to play with the Portland Trail Blazers until he retires. He doesn’t care for the concept of superteams and would much rather build a championship team with the franchise that drafted him. Lillard even signed a supermax contract with the team to demonstrate how serious he is about winning with the Blazers.

However, Lillard wasn’t always sure about his standing with the team. During a recent Vanity Fair interview, Lillard admitted that there was a time where he thought he would be traded to the New York Knicks. Rumors had been floating around and he wouldn’t have been surprised had something gone down. 

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“I thought I was headed there a few years ago; I was hearing trade rumors,” Lillard said. “The Garden is my favorite place to play.” Lillard on the Knicks would have been a sight to behold especially when paired with Carmelo Anthony. Of course, the two play together now but Anthony would have been closer to his prime at the time of this potential trade.

If you’re a Blazers fan, you have to be thankful that the trade never went through. Otherwise, the team would be a lot worse off.

Next month, the NBA is planning to come back in spectacular fashion thanks to a bubble city in Orlando, Florida. Only 22 teams are being invited to take part in the final 8 games of the regular season before the 16-team playoffs begin. One of the teams being invited is the Portland Trail Blazers who were infamously the only team opposed to the new format. 

It seems as though Carmelo Anthony is one of the Blazers players who aren't exactly sold on the whole bubble city idea. While speaking to Ernie Johnson of TNT, Anthony revealed that there is still a lot the players don't know about the NBA's return and that he's not sold on anything. With this in mind, he hasn't committed to coming back and is weighing his options. At this point, it's a real possibility that he doesn't participate in the league's return.

Today, all 30 NBA teams voted on a return to play format that will tentatively begin on July 31st. The plan received overwhelming support as 29 teams voted in favor of it. The only team that was against the proposal was the Portland Trail Blazers. According to reports, some felt as though the 22-team format was unfair and that they would have preferred something with only 20 teams.

Many NBA fans were quick to judge the Trail Blazers for this decision although CJ McCollum eventually came out and defended the team's position. As McCollum explained, the Blazers' ownership group is extremely respectful of the players and that they are one of the few who care about what the players have to say. McCollum claims the team had concerns with the new format and that was reflected in their vote today.

With Coronavirus cases trending downward, the United States and countries around the world have allowed their athletes to slowly but surely start training again. At this point, it remains to be seen as to when each individual league will return, but things are certainly taking a positive turn.

For instance, NBA players have been permitted to start training with their respective teams. In a recent interview with ESPN, Damian Lillard spoke about practicing with his teammates and how excited everyone was to see each other again.

“The whole first week was a breath of fresh air,” Lillard said. “On a certain level, it was exciting. You’re finally back on the court and you’re seeing everyone’s faces again.”

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Despite this, Lillard also noted that it has been difficult to focus as there are numerous health concerns involved. The virus has not been eradicated and everyone is anxious about potentially contracting it.

“The second week everyone is like, ‘All right, this is kind of weird,’” Lillard explained. “The excitement is gone and now it’s, ‘What going on?’ I haven’t had a personal experience with [COVID-19], but I know how real it is. There’s nothing excessive when you see the kind of toll it’s taking on the world.”

With Lillard’s experiences in mind, it will be interesting to see how soon the NBA decides to really come back.

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United States President Donald Trump has said a lot of weird things during his first term in the Oval Office. Perhaps his worst moments have come during the Coronavirus pandemic. Over 50,000 people have died in the country and a lot of those deaths could have been avoided had officials listened to health experts sooner. Regardless, Trump is trying to clean up the mess and reassure the public that everything is going to be okay.

Yesterday, Trump tried to do just that as he claimed that injecting yourself with disinfectants could kill the virus. Experts in the health community immediately condemned this position and today, the President backtracked saying he only meant to be sarcastic.

Now, Portland Trail Blazers star CJ McCollum is speaking out about the President's blunder, asking how have we come to such a place in society.

Looking back on things, Michael Jordan should have been the first pick in the 1984 NBA Entry Draft. Of course, the Houston Rockets who picked number one were able to get Hakeem Olajuwon so you can't really complain. However, the Portland Trail Blazers picked second in the draft and took Sam Bowie because they needed a large center. This allowed the Chicago Bulls to take Michael Jordan at third and the rest was history.

This piece of basketball tri is front and center in ESPN's new 10-part docuseries, "The Last Dance." In the early parts of the documentary, we get to see Jordan's early days at the University of North Carolina and how he eventually found himself on the almighty Bulls. Of course, Bowie wasn't exactly a superstar for the Blazers which led to a lot of 20/2- hindsight on the Twitter timeline. In fact, Blazers fans started to pour their hearts out on social media as they lamented about what could have been.

Over the weekend, Jamal Murray had an interesting start to his quarantine. As you all probably know by now, a video of himself receiving oral sex was posted on his Instagram story. Murray claims he was hacked although no one knows for sure whether or not this was actually the case. Murray eventually apologized for the incident but three days later, he is still being clowned for what went down.

Yesterday, CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers got to go live on the NBA's official Instagram account. At one point, a commenter made fun of McCollum by saying his neckbeard looked like Murray's private parts. McCollum echoed these sentiments out loud which led to a hilarious response from Lillard.

The Air Jordan 34 is one of the best looking Air Jordans in recent memory (my personal opinion), and the brand has done an excellent job of rolling out exclusive colorways for their star athletes. This includes Zion Williamson’s “Bayou Boys” and “South Carolina” PEs, as well as Jayson Tatum’s “Lemonade” and “Taco Tuesday” exclusives.

Adding to the ever-growing list of Air Jordan 34 PEs is this Blazers-inspired colorway that Carmelo Anthony recently laced up in Portland.

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As you’d expect from any Blazers-themed sneaker, the kicks stick with the always popular black, white and red design. But what gives this sneaker even more Blazers vibes is the diagonal stripe detailing on the heel, referencing the design of Portland’s uniform. It’s certainly not the most intricate player exclusive we’ve seen, but sometimes simple works best and these definitely hit the mark. 

Catch another look at Melo’s Blazers-themed Air Jordan 34s below, and click here to check out Jayson Tatum’s taco-inspired colorway.

Damian Lillard has consistently proven himself to be one of the best players in the NBA and over the last couple of years, he has been one of the most vocal. Lillard is someone who stands up for the rights of the players while also voicing concerns whenever he sees fit. The latest hot button issue in the NBA is the novel Coronavirus, COVID-19. The NBA is contemplating drastic measures in order to limit the spread of the disease. These measures include playing games without any fans present.

While speaking to Jamie Goldberg of The Oregonian, Lillard gave his in-depth take on the virus and the strategies he has undergone to make sure he and his son steer clear of the virus. As you can imagine, the last few weeks have been difficult.

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“Obviously, it’s concerning,” Lillard said. “Especially in the environment that we work in, we’re constantly high-fiving and signing autographs and greeting people. We’re always in the presence of thousands of people. So, you’re concerned for those reasons and then we’re around (the media) as well. … So, it’s kind of a concern, but you just got to do your best to take care of yourself, try to stay clean, keep your hands clean. For me, I’ve just been trying to keep myself and my son out of as many crowds as possible.”

Lillard isn’t the only player concerned about the virus and as it turns out, the executives are scared too. A meeting is being held on Wednesday where drastic measures could be enacted. If this is the case, the league could be in for an interesting few months.

Damian Lillard's Portland Trail Blazers have been one of the most disappointing teams this season, much to the delight of some bitter Oklahoma City Thunder fans. Though the Blazers' struggles are no reflection of Lillard's play on the court, at least one OKC fan thought it necessary to call out the All Star point guard while bragging about the Thunder's current standing in the Western Conference, relative to where Portland is ranked.