Portland Trail Blazers talisman guard Damian Lillard has squashed his trade rumors as he has cleared the air that he is not leaving the franchise. The 31-year old from California has been linked to other teams as he doesn’t get the support from his teammates at Portland Trail Blazers.

However, Lillard has revealed that he has no plans to make the trade right now and he is happy with where he is at. The point guard has recently released his album ‘Different On Levels the Lord Allowed’ and the buzz around his trade move has been doing the rounds.

Lillard clarified on Instagram Live, “You get to a position where it’s like, ‘Do I defend myself or do I just say nothing.’ For me, when I’m just hearing stuff that’s not the facts, I’m going to say I didn’t say that,” Lillard said. “Some things I’ve just got to let it be said. I know what the truth is. I know where I stand. It’s not my duty to make the public know … it’s not my job to make them aware of what that is. It definitely has been different. I feel like I’ve handled it like I’ve handled everything. I just let it happen. I let people talk and I just stay true to who I am and I stand on that. If I say something, I stand on what I said. It is what it is, at this point.”

Meanwhile, the Portland Trail Blazers were knocked out in the first round of the postseason by injury-ridden Denver Nuggets by 4-2. Damian Lillard was the lone warrior for his team as he didn’t get the support from the rest of the players. Lillard feels PDX should have beaten the Nuggets and has confidence that his team will bounce back stronger in the next season.

“Our environment has always been great. We’re not losing a lot, but we were eliminated by a shorthanded Denver team that I felt we should have beat,” Lillard said. “I just walked away from that really disappointed. I was like, ‘Man, this just isn’t going to work.’ We’re not winning the championship, but we’ve got a successful organization. We’re not a franchise that’s just out here losing every year and getting divided. We have positive seasons; we just don’t end up with a championship,” Lillard had said.

Meanwhile, Portland Trail Blazers had finished at the sixth place in the regular season of 2020-21 with a 42-30 record.