Damian Lillard Says He Would Rather "Lose Every Year" Than Play for the Golden State Warriors
The seven-time NBA All-Star reflects on whether or not he would join his hometown team.
In a recent episode of Cam’ron and Ma$e’s It Is What It Is show, Damian Lillard joined the hosts to clarify the possibility of playing for other teams in the NBA. Throughout the 2023 offseason, Lillard has been known to fight for a trade to the Miami Heat. While he has not directly addressed the possibility of playing for other teams for the 2023-24 season, he also shared his thoughts on the long-rumored potential trade to the Golden State Warriors.
Lillard doubles down on his disinterest to join his hometown team, the Warriors. He explains at around the 53 minute mark of the video, “I respect what they’ve been doing over the last eight, nine years or whatever, and I’m from there, obviously, that’s home. But I can’t go be a part of that.” He adds, “They’ve won four championships…Like what I look like going to try to do that and say oh I’m joining my home team. Like no. Somebody who played my position behind LeBron, the best player of this era. It don’t even make sense. I never do nothing like that. I lose every year before I go.” Cam’ron that asks a follow up question to clarify that Lillard will not be following in the footsteps of Kevin Durant who received widespread criticism when he joined the Warriors in 2016 and subsequently won two titles in 2017 and 2018. Lillard responds, “If I was in his shoes, I wouldn’t have done that, personally.”
In the past, Lillard stated in 2016 and in 2021 that he would never be a part of the Warriors’ superteam due to misalignment. It remains to be seen if Lillard will join Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo with the Miami Heat in the coming season.
In case you missed it, here’s a recap of the 2023 Nike World Basketball Festival.
