Winning a title sometimes comes down to little things, like the departure of a key player from a team. Damian Lillard is in any case of this opinion, he who recently spoke about his years spent in Portland and the departure of one of his teammates to the Spurs.

Damian Lillard is a Bucks player, he who will begin his second season in the colors of Milwaukee.

And to tell the truth, this is a sentence that still seems strange to the ears of many basketball fans. Because despite his arrival in Wisconsin, everyone continues to associate the name of the leader with the Blazers franchise.

Is Dame Time the best player to have ever worn the jersey of the Oregon squad? The question is in any case legitimate given his CV there.

It’s simple, Lillard spent no less than eleven seasons there with staggering stats based on more than 25 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists on average.

He also logically became the all-time leading scorer with 19,376 units for Rip City.

Unfortunately, these individual exploits never really translated to the collective level. Apart from a conference final in 2019, nothing to sink your teeth into… While the No. 0 had been part of a fairly impressive troop on paper for a while with Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum and especially LaMarcus Aldridge, leader of the team before Lillard was drafted.

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In total, L-Train spent nine years in Portland’s colors with an average of 19 points and 8 rebounds.

He was the keystone and had also been a valuable mentor for Dame D.O.L.L.A when she arrived in the pros.

A guest on Jeff Teague’s podcast, the latter also made very strong comments against his former teammate:

If he hadn’t left for San Antonio, we would have won at least one title by now.

I would have become good by then, but he was that good.

Let’s remember that LMA left the Blazers in 2015 for the Spurs, when Lillard was only in his fourth season in the league.

If he had still been there when the guard reached his prime some time later, who knows if Portland could have experienced greater collective success.

A question that will forever remain unanswered.

Damian Lillard remains convinced nine years later, his duo with LaMarcus Aldridge could have led the Blazers to the title if they had stayed together long enough.

It is true that the interior sector has always been Rip City’s big flaw, even with Jusuf Nurkic as a pivot.