After eight wonderful years together, in which they led the Portland Trail Blazers to consecutive playoff appearances, Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum were split up.
The Blazers traded McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans on February 8, resulting in the end of an era for Portland. He got off to a great personal start in his new team, averaging 28.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game.
While the Blazers have been doing fine despite he left, Lillard has admitted he is yet to get used to seeing his former teammate with another uniform. Here’s what Dame had to say.
Damian Lillard opens up on the CJ McCollum trade
“You get to a point where maybe something has run it’s course,” Lillard said in the next episode of The Draymond Green Show, as quoted by Clutchpoints. “You gotta re-route yourself and try to figure out what’s the best thing, what’s the best angle to take at this point.
“That —- was tough to deal with, bruh, I ain’t gonna lie. You know when you know something could be coming and you know that it’s a possibility, but when it happens it’s different, like damn! And I’ve kinda been stuck in that space the whole time.
“Like I’ve been watching every game in New Orleans like damn, he really ain’t coming back. It’s over. That’s kind of where I’ve been at. I still kinda haven’t even really moved past it because I ain’t have to play. The end of an era, bruh.”
As he said, the fact that he has to see this big change from the sidelines probably makes it even harder for Lillard. However, maybe this move is just for the best. Dame and the Blazers must move on in order to fight for the ultimate goal.
