Damian Lillard Putting Pressure On Blazers Front Office

He's said it all along. Damian Lillard is fully committed to winning a championship with the Portland Trail Blazers. And while he's certainly doing his part, playing at a superstar level this season, he wants to see the front office be more "aggressive" and step up big-time this summer. 

There comes a time where we [might] have the right intentions, [but] we’ve got to execute. We have to actually make that come to life, to give ourselves a chance to really make a run at it. 

Lillard has 14 games of 40+ points this season, including one each of 50, 60 and 71. Overall, at the age of 32, he's averaging a career-high 32.3 points. One certainly can't ask any more of him. But in an interview with Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, it sure sounds like he is asking more of general manager Joe Cronin come the summer. 

That means we go into the offseason and we don’t come out the way we have in the past. Where it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re going to try to do something,’ and then we watch other people capitalize on things that are out there, and we pass, pass, pass, pass and can’t get anything done and then it’s done.

At age 32, there are only so many more years that the Trail Blazers will have peak Dame, and it makes sense that he's putting pressure on them to act now to build a contending team around him. 

Portland is currently tied for 12th in the West at 31-35, but only 2.5 games out of the 6-seed. 

We'll see if the front office can execute on Lillard's wishes in the summer of 2023. 

Photo: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports