{"id":336999,"date":"2023-10-07T00:48:24","date_gmt":"2023-10-07T00:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=336999"},"modified":"2023-10-07T14:03:52","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T14:03:52","slug":"anxious-and-nervous-mega-trades-awkward-consequence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=336999","title":{"rendered":"'Anxious and nervous': Mega trade's awkward consequence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Damian Lillard<\/a>'s long-time Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> teammate LaMarcus Aldridge has two words of advice for him after his trade to the Milwaukee Bucks: "Be yourself".<\/p>\n

After an off-season filled with speculation and the souring of a once-great relationship with the Blazers fans, Lillard was traded to the Bucks last month<\/a>, joining Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> to form the NBA's newest frightening two-man combo in the East.<\/p>\n

\ufeffGiannis is Lillard's most talented teammate since Aldridge left the Blazers for the Spurs in the summer of 2015, having spent the first nine seasons of his career with the team.<\/p>\n

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Like Lillard, Aldridge went from being loved in Portland to a villain overnight due to his move.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Speaking to Wide World of Sports while in Australia to tip off "NBA Fan Month", a month-long celebration of sport in the country, Aldridge recalled his feelings when returning to Portland in San Antonio colours for the first time.<\/p>\n

\"Damian<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI left in free agency (and) they didn't get anything back for me, so I felt like they thought I was mean or I slighted them," he said.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffThose fans are a part of my life and my family. I was nervous and anxious going back, but then once they booed me I was more motivated to play well.<\/p>\n

"I didn't want to be booed because I loved those guys so much, but the booing helped me play well because I didn't care after that.<\/p>\n

"I was anxious and nervous, but I was excited as well because I was going to see people that I knew for nine years."<\/p>\n

While Lillard's trade request after years of professing his desire to retire in Blazers colours caught the fans offside, Aldridge believes the reception for the All-Star guard will be different.<\/p>\n

\"PORTLAND,<\/p>\n

"\ufeffThey're going to welcome him back and love him," he said.<\/p>\n

In Milwaukee, Lillard will be flanked by more talent than he's played with at any stage of his career.<\/p>\n

Not only is he playing alongside an MVP in Giannis, he'll also be surrounded by one of the NBA's best defensive bigs in Brook Lopez and an excellent two-way shooting guard in Khris Middleton.<\/p>\n

However, Aldridge doesn't want to see Lillard go away from what's made him one of the league's most feared guards and a seven-time NBA All-Star.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"I just hope that he's just being himself from day one," he said.<\/p>\n

"I feel like Luka (Doncic) and Kyrie (Irving) went through that your turn-my turn offence, so they (Lillard and Giannis) both have to learn the chemistry of how to play together and I feel like they will.<\/p>\n

\"MILWAUKEE,<\/p>\n

"Giannis is so excited to have Dame now so I feel like it's going to be easy to just tell Dame to go and be himself.<\/p>\n

"I would just say be yourself and embrace the new culture and the new challenges.<\/p>\n

"When I left, that was one of the things I wanted to do, I wanted to embrace being somewhere new and trying to learn it all over again because I feel like when you're in a place so long it's easy to know everything and know everyone.<\/p>\n

"So just embrace the challenge, which I know he will, and just be yourself."<\/p>\n

Aldridge and Lillard were teammates when Lillard famously hit a buzzer-beater against Houston in the 2014 Playoffs to send the Blazers through to the second round for the first time in 14 years.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"I\ufeff had great times with him in Portland," he recalled.<\/p>\n

\"LaMarcus<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI enjoyed playing with Dame, we had some great runs together and seeing his development and us kind of being a (playoff) team was amazing.<\/p>\n

"I'm definitely happy for him to have a chance to compete for a world championship.<\/p>\n

"We've had the privilege of watching him be amazing with teams that weren't great, so when you put his talent and his work ethic with someone that's great, you're hoping it's going to propel him to a situation where he can truly have a chance to win.<\/p>\n

"A guy that works that hard and is that good, you just want him to have the opportunity to win a championship, and now he really has that."<\/p>\n

Aldridge participated in a number of activities during his time in Australia, including a meet-and-greet with fans at the NBA Store in Melbourne, watching the NBL season opener, and attending the AFL and NRL grand finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Damian Lillard's long-time Portland Trail Blazers teammate LaMarcus Aldridge has two words of advice for him after his trade to the Milwaukee Bucks: "Be yourself". […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":337001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336999"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=336999"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":337006,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336999\/revisions\/337006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/337001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=336999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=336999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=336999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}