Carmelo Anthony on Damian Lillard: “He’s Never Talked About Leaving”

Current Los Angeles Laker and former Portland Trail Blazer Carmelo Anthony spoke with Yahoo’s Chris Haynes about many aspects of this NBA offseason, including why he ended up in LA. He also confirmed that in his numerous discussions with Damian Lillard, the Portland superstar “never talked about leaving”, and that it’s more “the outside world” that’s talking about whether Dame should put on another uniform.

“He never asked for a trade.... Don’t feed into that sh*t man, because it ain’t it. Trust me.”

“He wants to win, he wants to be in Portland,” said Anthony. “That’s his town, that’s his city.” But more specifically, said Melo, what Lillard talked about was “‘I want to win, and I want to do it here in Portland. But if it’s not gonna work, it’s not gonna work'. I think that’s the battle that he deals with.”

Anthony said he gave Lillard some advice, which he wouldn’t elaborate on, but admitted he found a lot of similarities between Dame’s situation and his own struggles in Denver, a team he says he did not want to leave.

In the end, says Melo, it’s very difficult, on both sides, to put an end to a long-term relationship like the one Lillard and the Trail Blazers have. “It’s a lot of things that come into play, it’s a lot of moving parts that gotta happen for Dame to get out of Portland.”

And in fact, Lillard recently arrived back in the Pacific Northwest, ready for the imminent start of training camp, by posting his current feelings on Instagram.