I promise there’s a point to this blog.
But let me just tell you first about moving. Moving is maybe one of the most stressful things you can do in your entire life. And there are things that no matter how much money you have, you have to do yourself.
Where do things go? Do you want to keep this or leave it behind? What kind of space do you want to live in? What neighborhood do you want to call home? Don’t forget, you have to be there when the cable and internet guys come.
You have to be there even if you’re Dame Lillard. And this is doubly true if you’re Dame’s cousin, or his nephew.
All of this to say is there are a few reasons I now know Dame is NEVER leaving Portland.
This week a story broke from Chris Haynes, and there were a couple things in that article that gave me TREMENDOUS solace.
Of course the fact he is now telling the world he met with Lebron but never wants to join a Super team is at the top of the list.
Dame is now stating to the world publicly that Super Teams are not his jam. And that the reason why is if he leaves for another team, he could be discarded and traded again if that team rebuilds.
Looking at you Russ and CP3.
But this paragraph in the Haynes article is what gave me the most amount of peace.
Lillard has around 30 family members who have moved to the Portland area. His immediate family attends every game, and they wait for him in the family-and-friends section of the Moda Center to leave as one for a postgame dinner. Dame Jr. roams the hallways of the Moda Center like he’s at home. If Lillard decided to leave, he understood it could also disrupt his family. Family members were aware Lillard was mulling a decision that could change a reliable dynamic that has been in place for almost 10 years, yet wanted only to support him.
Do you think if Dame doesn’t live in Portland, they continue to live in Portland? His entire family is from Oakland. Portland is many things but it’s not Oakland. Not by a long shot.
Imagine if Dame moved to Philly? You think that extended family wants to live in PHILADELPHIA? The rest of his family lives in Oakland. Dame is not going to Sacramento or the Warriors or the Lakers. And 30 family members aren’t moving to Philly no matter how much Daryl Morey wants it to happen.
Think about it.
Uproot their life. Box their shit. Find XFinity or Fios. All in a flash, and they’d all have to agree to be there in the first place. And what if Philly decides Dame doesn’t work there in two years? Now everyone has to go live in OKC. Or they stay behind.
Dame doesn’t want to fuck up his family vibe. He just got married, he’s got two kids.
I’m going through a move right now and it’s taking a toll. If it was me and my 30 family members?
Dear God … STRESSSSS.
Dame also said this:
“My family was encouraging me to not make a decision based on them…They were like, ‘We’re going to be fine.’ But I know they said that to be unselfish. So when I was thinking about potentially leaving, I was thinking if it’s really worth it to chase what all these other people are telling me I have to have, or is it more important to just do what means something to me. If there’s anybody in this league that moves to the beat of their own drum, it’s me.
And I think people look at it like, ‘Ah, he’s just taking the money. He doesn’t want to win.’ The media is so accustomed to rocking the boat and making people move how they want to move, and that’s not going to happen with me.
You HAVE to be in control of your move. And for people to try and plant the seed in his head there was something wrong with him, because he was in a small market trying to win? Pressuring him because that’s what THEY want to see? That THEIR agenda involves him uprooting his life so someone else can also get a ring?
GTFO
He brought all these people from Brookfield, Oakland, and they now live in places like West Linn, Oregon with life changing and generational wealth, where his kids and their kids will grow up. Together. As one big extended family.
Dame is planted ten toes down in West Linn, and he is not going ANYWHERE.
And that thing about Super Teams?
“I’m sure it would be great to play with LeBron and AD and play in a big market, but as attractive as it sounded and as fun as that might be, I don’t feel in my heart that that’s who I am or where I belong. And one thing I want to emphasize is that this decision wasn’t made out of comfort. I’m not afraid to be out of my comfort zone because I’m going to live here when I’m done playing regardless. I made my decision based on what I actually want to do.”
Let me say it loud for the folks in back.
DAME LILLARD IS NEVER LEAVING PORTLAND. EVER.
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