Shortly after Damian Lillard‘s Trail Blazers were eliminated from the playoffs on Thursday, he posted a cryptic message about his future. And the Knicks are reportedly among the teams interested in making Lillard a part of their future.
Said ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on Friday:
“Several calls have come (the Blazers’) way. You got a lot of teams — about six or seven different teams — who believe they can get their hands on him, they think they’ve got a shot. One of them includes the Knicks, who are scheduled to have about $75 million in cap space along with some picks. But also, the Clippers, the Miami Heat. And who knows what the Lakers may try to do. Stay tuned.”
SNY’s Ian Begley reported in May that the Knicks were monitoring Lillard’s situation in Portland, noting that people around Lillard had previously wanted to see him in a bigger market.
The Knicks would obviously qualify as a bigger market than Portland, but so would Miami and Los Angeles.
Lillard, who will turn 31 on July 15, is owed $176.2 million over the next four seasons. He is set to earn $39.3 million in 2021-22 and is under contract through the 2024-25 season.
Despite Lillard’s heroics in the playoffs this season against the Denver Nuggets — which included a 55-point performance in an overtime loss in Game 5 — the Blazers fell to Denver in six games.
Portland has now been eliminated in the first round in each of the last two seasons and four of the last five. They reached the Western Conference Finals in 2018-19, where they were swept by the Golden State Warriors.
Lillard, who has spent all nine seasons of his career with the Blazers, averaged 28.8 points and 7.5 assists while shooting 45 percent from the field in 67 games this season.