Damian Lillard played for the Trail Blazers for 11 seasons before he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks prior to the 2023-24 season. The closest the Lillard and the Blazers got to the NBA Finals was a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2019, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors.

Lillard said those Blazers could have won an NBA title had one player stayed with the team. During an appearance on former NBA player Jeff Teague’s “Club 520″ podcast, the 34-year-old All-Star guard said had power forward LaMarcus Aldridge remained with the Blazers and not signed a free agent deal with the San Antonio Spurs in 2015, the Blazers would’ve hoisted the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy at some point.

“One thing I think about in my career, if he would’ve never went to San Antonio, we would’ve won (a title) at least once already,” Lillard said. “I would’ve came into my own, but he was that good.”

Lillard said Aldridge’s gravitational pull on defenses helped create wide-open shots for him, particularly in pick-and-roll situations.

“He made it way easier. Teams were really paying attention to him,” Lillard said. “Being in a pick-and-roll with him, he’s popping, he’s making every jumper. I’m throwing it to him on the block, they going to get him. I’m standing there by myself. My rookie year, I started every game with an elbow pull-up jumper on pick-and-roll … because they trying to get back to him.”

Lillard and Aldridge were teammates on the Blazers for three seasons (2012-2015), before Aldridge signed a four-year, $80 million deal to join the Spurs in 2015. The Blazers reached the playoffs in two of those seasons, losing to Spurs in the conference semifinals in 2014 and losing to the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round in 2015.