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The Portland Trail Blazers should be afraid after Westbrook trade

By Austin Carroll

PORTLAND, OR - APRIL 23: Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder warms up prior to a game against the Portland Trail Blazers before Game Five Round One of the 2019 NBA Playoffs on April 23, 2019 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Cameron Browne/NBAE via Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OR - APRIL 23: Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder warms up prior to a game against the Portland Trail Blazers before Game Five Round One of the 2019 NBA Playoffs on April 23, 2019 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Cameron Browne/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Following Russell Westbrook’s trade to the Rockets, the Portland Trail Blazers should be worried about the long term implications of this busy offseason.

The breaking news of the Oklahoma City Thunder trading franchise legend Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets is just the latest installment of a historically frantic offseason. It’s also the most recent and most glaring warning flag the Portland Trail Blazers have witnessed in the past year.

Following the trade of Westbrook, that leaves Steph Curry as the longest tenured player in the league with the team that originally drafted him after ten years in the league — assuming Udonis Haslem retires with the Miami Heat. John Wall (nine years), Tristan Thompson (eight years) and Klay Thompson (eight years) immediately succeed.

Gone are the days of loyal superstars that spend the entirety of their career with one team such as Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki. These players enshrined themselves in our hearts through loyalty and natural greatness while serving as a foundational pillar to build the roster around and attract generations of fans.

It would be nice to believe Damian Lillard could join that hallowed crew. Unfortunately, recent history suggests otherwise.

Front offices have shown a ruthless aggression when it comes to improving the roster, even at the cost of beloved players. In the last year alone, NBA superstars that meant a lot to their franchise were dealt for a better hand such as Westbrook, DeMar DeRozan, Chris Paul, Mike Conley, Marc Gasol and Kristaps Porzingis.

Other stars like Anthony Davis and Paul George took advantage of their worth as a player to force themselves into a better situation on a personal level. Even Kevin Durant leveraged his value to get a draft pick for his new team in Brooklyn via sign-and-trade instead of signing with the Nets outright.

Stars in the league today seem more flexible than ever when it comes to their loyalties. Of the top 14 players on CBS’ preseason player rankings, only four have stayed with their original team their entire career. Two of those (Giannis and Embiid) have never even hit unrestricted free agency.

Lillard comes in at No. 14 on that list and joins Curry as the only player to remain with his original team while also testing unrestricted free agency. Although the pair may be enemies on the court, they may have more in common than they expect when it comes to where their loyalties lie.

"“I’ve said also in the past that I want to do it here… Haven’t won a championship since ’77, the one and only, and it would just feel so much better to know that I just kept it solid and I did the work. We’ve been through sweeps and had all this stuff… We made it a step further and a step closer to what the ultimate goal is and in the end I know that if it gets done, it’ll feel much better to know that I did it in a solid way. I didn’t have to go and play with the best player just to get it done. For me, this is the way I want to do it and I know that if it don’t happen, I can live with it because I know the route that I chose, I accepted it a long time ago.”"

Even if there’s no question about where Lillard would like to see his career reach its conclusion, he may not be out of dangerous waters yet. There still remains the question on if the front office would ever deal Lillard for the right price.

For the time being, such a move seems unthinkable. Lillard is clearly the heart and soul of the team and the only one capable of potentially carrying the Portland Trail Blazers to a title.

But time is an impossible variable to gauge. Five years ago today, LeBron James returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Luol Deng was considered a top 50 player and worth tens of millions of dollars. Chandler Parson was a game-changing signing for the Dallas Mavericks.

Look at how much has changed since then. There is no telling what the next five years has in store for us and the Portland Trail Blazers. After signing his supermax extension, Lillard has another six years left on contract with the Blazers. All it takes is one bad injury or a serious summer of regression to no longer be worth those big bucks.

When you’re no longer worth those big bucks, how can the men in suits justify keeping you on the payroll? So much has to conveniently fall in place to avoid these issues. Lillard must remain healthy and elite while the team must remain competitive over the years to constitute not making a big change.

Next. Is Damian Lillard too old school?. dark

Westbrook, DeRozan, Isaiah Thomas, Conley and Gasol are all recent victims of this gradual change in attitude, the same one that has slowly killed off the lifetime players of the league and robbed us of legends in the making. Let’s hope Lillard is not the next casualty of the transaction tidal wave.