Damian Lillard’s situation in Portland is pretty murky right now, and fans around the association have been trying their hardest to recruit the guy to their team.
Stephen A. Smith is no doubt guilty of this, as he has devoted several segments on First Take and Stephen A.’s World to make the case for Lillard to move to New York.
Most recently, though, he gave out a trade scenario that had everyone calling him out — even Knicks fans themselves.
“Give them anything they wanted. I would give them Barrett, I would give them Randle, I would give them I would give them Obi Toppin, I would give them Mitchell Robinson, I would give them Emmanuel Quickley, I would give them not one, not two, but three first round picks.
I would give the Portland Trail Blazers all that and a bag of chips just to get Damian Lillard.”
https://twitter.com/goknickstape/status/1417178278180401156
Giving up all of that for Dame sounds reasonable for a team like the Knicks (who have not had a star of Lillard’s caliber in quite some time), but it leaves them with practically nobody to surround him with.
On Twitter, many fans were quite harsh in pointing out that fact:
Stephen A. Smith is wild'n today! Trade the entire Knicks team for Damian Lillard. Just absurd!#Knicks
— Kevin Ryans (@OfficialKevRy) July 19, 2021
Stephen A with one of the worst Knicks takes of all time…embarrassing. @stephenasmith https://t.co/eZLkHhr00X
— ARH (@AyeAreHodge) July 19, 2021
Lmfaoooo bro. Who is this guy. Then he’ll be the first one screaming at 930 in the morning about how it’s “blasphemy” what the Knicks gave up 😂😂
— MM (@blnkcanvs_) July 19, 2021
Stephen A’s proposed Knicks lineup
PG: Dame
SG: Luca Vildoza
SF: Reggie Bullock
PF: Kevin Knox
C: Taj Gibson
Could this team compete for a title? 👀👀🔥🔥
— . (@goknickstape) July 19, 2021
https://twitter.com/Ryan_F212/status/1417130844855181313
and then when the Knicks can't surround him with anything, Stephen A Smith will be the first one talking shit and crying
— Proper MIDDLEMAN (@ProperMIDDLEMAN) July 19, 2021
It’s hard to blame Stephen A. for wanting Lillard in a Knicks jersey. And if the franchise does have the chance to trade for him, it’d be pretty foolish not to pull the trigger.
But it’s also important that the Knicks don’t overpay and risk destroying the roster depth it has taken years for them to build. They need to hang on to that, even if it means missing out on Dame.
