Shannon Sharpe believes Damian Lillard may become one of the richest players in NBA history…with zero rings to show for it.
On Undisputed with Shannon and Skip Bayless, Shannon explains why Dame will make a lot of money, and could end up as one of the richest guy in NBA history, but will win no titles as a result. One of Shannon’s arguing points is that Dame never takes less than max money. During this free agency, Dame agreed to a four-year, $196 million extension that will go into effect starting with the 2021-22 season, per Fox News.
Shannon’s belief is people only remember titles, and not how much money a player made over his time. Shannon also compared Dame’s time on the Blazers to Kevin Garnett’s experience with the T-Wolves, prior to KG’s trade to the Celtics. Shannon states that KG said that he wished that he left early, but wanted to ride it out in Minnesota before Boston traded for the Big Ticket.
Ultimately, Shannon believes its a matter of time before the Blazers move on from Dame and CJ McCollum, since they are not winning the title with them but paying max dollars to keep them on the roster. He also states that Dame is not Michael Jordan, and he needs more help. In context, Shannon states that Jordan was the best and worst thing to happen to the NBA, since he “did it the right way.”
There’s nothing wrong with Shannon’s take that championships matter, especially over the last couple of years in the NBA with the superteams and player empowerment. But you can’t be mad at the Kevin Durant’s of the world that go to a stacked team to win a title, because the only thing that matters about a players legacy is how many rings he has.
No one wants to be Charles Barkley, getting clowned on a regular for never winning a title.
Dame didn’t waste any time clapping back on Twitter, and gave this thoughts on Shannon’s zero rings take.
Flip the page for Shannon talking about Dame on Undisputed and Dame’s response.