- Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving are favored to remain with their respective teams at the start of the 2023-24 season.
- Lillard recently spoke about his unwillingness to be a part of a rebuild in Portland.
- Irving refused to talk to reporters during the Dallas Mavericks’ exit interviews.
The failure of the Portland Trail Blazers and Dallas Mavericks to live up to expectations and make the NBA Playoffs this season has left everyone wondering about the future of superstars Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving.
Lillard has hinted that he wants to win a championship now and doesn’t want to play for a rebuilding team. Meanwhile, Irving refused to participate in the Mavericks’ exit interviews and has not given a hint on returning to the Mavs or not.
Despite the uncertainties, oddsmakers at online sportsbook Bovada believe that the two superstar guards will end up staying with their current teams at the start of the 2023-24 campaign. Lillard is listed at -200 to remain with the Blazers and Irving is priced at -145 to stay in Dallas.
Another Year in the Drain for Lillard
Lillard has always put his loyalty to the Blazers over everything else, including the opportunity to win a title by joining other super teams. He has consistently maintained that if he were to chase and win a title, it would have to be in Portland where everything began.
In 2019, Lillard famously said that he would “not sell himself out for a ring”. Last year, he reiterated that he “wants to win a title as a TrailBlazer”. When he was honored as the Blazers’ all-time leading scorer last December, Lillard professed his allegiance to the team by saying “This is home for me”.
Damian Lillard: 'I don't have much of an appetite for building' with young roster. 😳 https://t.co/FJfQkIQWaz pic.twitter.com/llGFGbSMv3
— theScore (@theScore) April 10, 2023
Barely three months later, Portland was eliminated from playoff contention and they ended their 2022-23 campaign with a 33-49 SU record.
Although that was better than the previous season’s 27-55 mark, it was still the second-worst season in Lillard’s NBA career, matching the team’s mark during his rookie season.
Just like that, another year went down the drain for Damian Lillard. Make no mistake, Lillard is still a young 32 years old but considering he has played 11 barren seasons in Portland, it’s not out of the realm of thinking that Lillard could want to escape this basketball prison.
No Appetite for Building with Young Roster
Portland has won a combined 60 games the last two seasons and has missed the playoffs in back-to-back campaigns, the first time that has happened in the Lillard era. The Blazers are a paltry 137-173 over the past four seasons and they have not won a Playoff series during that stretch.
The Blazers’ lineup has got some young talents like Matisse Thybulle, Shaedon Sharpe, Anfernee Simons, Skylar Mays, and Cam Reddish. But when you talk about competing for a title, they are still very far from that.
Just last week, Lillard told the Rose Garden Report’s Sean Highkin that he has “not much appetite for building with guys two and three years away” and not go for a title. That has been one of Dame’s strongest statements hinting that he wants to win now.
Portland opened the 2022-23 campaign with +10000 odds to win the title and were a -210 to miss the postseason. Unless they do something drastic this offseason, those opening odds aren’t going to change for 2023-24.
According to Bovada, there are five teams linked to Lillard but all have odds longer than the Blazers to be his team next season. Two of them (the New York Knicks and Miami Heat) have been given realistic odds of +550 apiece.
The Brooklyn Nets are next at +1000 while the L.A. Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks are longshots at +1600. However, the Bucks and Clippers may be Lillard’s best chance at winning an NBA title.
Kyrie Declined To Do an Exit Interview
Meanwhile, Kyrie Irving declined to do the customary exit interview after the Mavs’ season was over, leaving questions on whether he will be back in a Dallas uniform next season. Dallas swung a huge trade at the deadline, bagging Irving from the Brooklyn Nets.
The Mavs’ title odds at BetOnline immediately shot up from +2000 to +1000 with Kyrie giving the team the second star needed to help Luka Doncic get over the hump.
Dallas was looking to build on a successful 2021-22 season where they reached the Conference Finals for the first time since their 2011 championship season. But the oddsmakers were wrong.
Before the season started, the oddsmakers gave Dallas -500 odds to return to the postseason. But those odds faltered to +900 at the start of April when the Mavs inexplicably continued to freefall in the team standings even with Irving joining Luka on the basketball court.
Dallas was 29-26 SU when they landed Irving. Since then, they went 9-18 SU. Following an overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks on April 2, the Mavs went 3-10 in their final 13 games. Their title odds sank to +18000. Despite that, they still had a slim chance of making the NBA Play-In Tournament.
The Mavs were fined $750,000 for sitting everyone against the Bulls to tank out of the Play-Inhttps://t.co/cEfgqOO4an
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) April 15, 2023,
Mavs Fined $750,000 for Tanking
With one week to go before the end of the regular season, the Mavericks were just one game behind the 10th-seeded OKC Thunder.
Irving then had a 19-point fourth quarter to lead the Mavs to a 123-119 win over the Kings to keep their play-in hopes alive. But while they were not yet eliminated at that point, they no longer controlled their own destiny.
Then the Mavs went on to sit out everyone in the final game of the regular season, essentially waiving the white flag.
The Dallas front office wanted to keep their Top 10 protected first-round pick in the upcoming draft. The NBA went on to fine the Mavericks a hefty $750,000 for “conduct detrimental to the league” explaining what the team did “undermined the integrity of the sport.”
Last week, Mavs GM Nico Harrison said that the team is confident that it can resign Kyrie Irving. But nobody knows what’s on Kyrie’s mind. After declaring in February that he won’t answer questions about his free agency until the end of the season, Irving refused to speak to the media during the Mavs’ exit interviews.
Still, BetOnline has Kyrie at -250 to return to Dallas next season. Bovada also lists the Mavs as the favorite to be his team during the 2023-24 season at -165 odds.
The possibility of Irving teaming up with LeBron James is next at +400, while a reunion with KD in Phoenix is third at +550. No other team has odds less than +1000 to land Kyrie’s services.
