For years, NBA fans, colleagues, and analysts have urged Damian Lillard to pack his bags and get as far from the Portland Trail Blazers as possible.
It’s easy to understand where they’re coming from, as Lillard has been one of the most explosive and dominant scorers in the league for quite a while now.
That’s even more evident if you take a look at a recent StatMuse tweet, citing that Lillard actually leads the league in 50-point games (10) this decade.
That’s more than Stephen Curry (6) and twice as many as Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and James Harden during that span.
Most 50-point games in the 2020s:
10 — Damian Lillard
6 — Steph Curry
5 — Doncic, Tatum, Embiid, Giannis, Harden pic.twitter.com/89rqxckiDo— StatMuse (@statmuse) August 14, 2023
Lillard is perhaps the only player in the league who could hold his own against Curry in terms of having unlimited range and being efficient as a three-point volume shooter, and his ability to score from all three levels is one of the most remarkable around the league.
Also, he wouldn’t have had to go off for 50+ points as often as he’s had to if he had a solid supporting cast around him, but that hasn’t been the case, especially as of late.
The Blazers are reportedly still hanging onto the hope that Lillard will eventually change his mind and decide to run it back in Rip City.
That seems unlikely at this point, and truth be told, they should just do right by him and fulfill his wish of playing somewhere else, as they have already failed him way too many times throughout the course of his career.
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