Damian Lillard Would Rather ‘Lose Every Year’ Than Join Warriors

When Damian Lillard requested a trade from the Portland Trail Blazers on July 1, the guard’s focus was the Miami Heat.

That focus supposedly hasn’t changed months later, even though the seven-time All-Star has yet to be moved. Even if Miami is off the table, there is one team Lillard is refusing to play for — the Golden State Warriors.

“I respect what they’ve been doing over the last eight, nine years or whatever, and I’m from there obviously. That’s home,” Lillard said on the “It Is What It Is” podcast. “But I can’t go be a part of that. They won four championships. What I look like going to try to do that? … There’s somebody that plays my position (Stephen Curry), that’s behind LeBron (James), the best player of this era. To me, it don’t even make sense. I’d never do nothing like that. I’d lose every year before I go (to the Warriors).”

There were reports that Celtics star Jayson Tatum reached out to Lillard trying to entice him into coming to Boston, but apparently, the 33-year-old didn’t entertain the possibility of calling TD Garden home.

While Lillard may be set on calling South Beach home, “Locked On NBA” podcast’s Matt Moore said the Blazers have other suitors trying to trade for him.

“I’ve heard that it’s not just one team, that multiple teams in the East (called for Lillard), the Raptors being one of them,” Moore said on the podcast. “That’s the thing nobody is really saying, but everyone around the league knows the Raptors were amongst the teams. They’ve kicked the tires.”