Carmelo Anthony has revealed what he told his former Blazers teammate Damian Lillard about leaving Portland before he was traded.
Over the summer, the Bucks pulled off the biggest trade by netting Lillard.
The NBA world was shook, and not because Dame finally left Portland, but because Milwaukee was a dark horse to land the seven-time All-Star.
Carmelo played with Lillard on the Trail Blazers for two seasons (2019-21) and recently revealed what he told Lillard before the blockbuster trade took place.
“We spoke,” Anthony said on the 7pm in Brooklyn podcast. “I was telling Dame, man get the f**k out here [Portland]. It wasn’t like a knock to Portland but it was, ‘Champ, you in the same situation I was in, in Denver. Our loyalty gonna kill us It’s gonna kill us!’ What do we have to see or know to make the decision? For me they had to hit rock bottom for it to be like alright I’m gonna go…So I’ve been telling Dame that, and finally, he was like ‘My loyalty is stamped in Portland.’ They better put a statue of Dame in Portland. It’s that deep of a connection. But I be telling him, ‘You gotta go’ because I knew what was gonna happen.”
Melo went on to explain that he told Lillard to leave Portland “before the narrative changed” and before the fans turned against him.
Up until this season, Lillard had played his whole 11-year career with the Trail Blazers, before being traded to a stacked veteran Bucks side.
He seems to be thriving amongst the like of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez and enjoyed one of his best games of the season on Tuesday.
The 33-year-old dropped 40 points on 14-22 shooting from the field to go with four rebounds and three assists.
He also recorded 20,000 career points – a feat which only 51 other NBA players in history have achieved.
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