Lillard signed a four-year, $176 million contract extension with the Blazers in '19, which expires in 2025. An early contract extension was reached with the Trail Blazers this year for $122 million over two years, with a new contract expiring in 2027, when Lillard turns 37.
When the NBA officially picks the 75 biggest players in NBA history, Lillard is the most controversial, both in terms of individual honors and team honors. The Blazers have proven one thing in recent years, and building a championship team with Lillard as the absolute core is unsuccessful. This is not to deny Lillard, if Lillard is the second or third star of the team, perhaps the team's record will be better.
But Lillard's contract extension with the Blazers almost blocked the possibility of him becoming the team's second star.
Wall and the Wizards' early contract extensions, Wei Shao and Thunder's early contract extensions, and finally shot ahead of time before the contract depreciated, and Lowry and the Heat's 3-year 85 million even caused Lowry to be unable to shoot.
What was the idea of building a team after the Trailblazers?
1. Continue the past, with Lillard as the core to build the lineup?
2. Tear down the rebuild, but how does Lillard deal with it?
3. Keep Lillard and keep going.
Is Lillard's trade worth high? If it is only an annual salary of 40 million and the contract period is only 2 years left, it must be hot, but now the situation is completely different.
The Thunder traded Paul with Wilson and then traded Paul to the Suns, stockpiling a large number of draft picks and is now a quasi-playoff team. The Nets traded for the Big Three and tapped into Bridges' potential. The Jazz traded Gobert and Mitchell for a lot of chips. For now, at least, their reconstruction has been successful, but the trailblazers can't follow suit. Although Lillard has scored 71 points in a single game this season, Lillard's age and sky-high contracts have made other teams prohibitive, and the road to trade will not work. If the Blazers are to rebuild, they will have to wait at least three seasons or so.
After Wilson was traded to the Jazz, the team confessed to him that if they didn't buy him out, they wouldn't have much chance to play, and the team would give young players playing time to explore their potential. In the same way, Lillard's presence at the Blazers is bound to affect the growth of young players.