Damian Lillard reportedly requested a trade from the Trail Blazers on Saturday, indicating a likely end to his tenure in Portland.
Lillard, who played 11 seasons with the Trail Blazers, ranked in the top four among active players having the longest tenure with one team. But now that he's looking for his next home -- which could be the reigning Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat -- the NBA's three longest-tenured players with one franchise all reside in the Bay Area [h/t ESPN].
No active NBA players have been with one franchise longer than the Warriors' championship core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Curry, drafted in 2009, enters his 15th season with the franchise. Thompson will begin his 13th campaign in the fall. And Green, who reportedly agreed to a four-year contract worth $100 million with the Warriors in free agency on Friday night, is running it back for his 12th year in the Bay.
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The show goes on.
Lillard was loyal to the Trail Blazers for over a decade and brought the franchise success it hadn't seen since Clyde Drexler was starring in the early 1990s. But Portland missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, and the 32-year-old Lillard is looking to win a championship ring while he's still at the top of his game.
The trade request is not an indictment of Lillard but rather properly highlights how rare it is to have such stability in today's NBA.
In a league that sees a new disgruntled star player request a trade every few months, Curry, Thompson and Green have stuck together for over a decade. They all have publicly stated their wishes to retire as a Warrior.
Golden State Warriors
The rare stability shows on and off the court. And they've got four rings -- and counting -- to show for it.