LaMarcus Aldridge Is Unhappy In Portland

Through some detective work Jason Quick of The Oregonian has upon some clues he thinks prove LaMarcus Aldridge is forcing his way out of Portland and that he is unhappy. To gauge his feelings on Portland Quick had a conversation with him before one of the last games of the regular season against the Los Angeles Clippers

"“How do you feel about the city, the team?’’“I’m fine,’’ he said shortly.I told him he didn’t sound very convincing.“I’m fine,’’ he repeated. “I had one season that was tough, it’s a building year and right now, I’m not going to get into it. This season was better than we thought it would be, it ended rough, but I haven’t gotten into that mindset of evaluating things.’’I asked him what he meant when he said he ‘wasn’t going to get into it.’“I mean, I’m fine. I know a lot of questions are about to come up about my happiness and this and that, but I’m fine. We had a tough season and now we just have to wait until the summertime and see what the next step is.’’"

After feeling him out, Quick directly asked Aldridge if he wanted to be traded.

"“No,’’ he said. “We haven’t talked about that.’’“I’m fine. Like I said, it was a tough season, but I’m not trying to jump ship. We will sit down and we will talk about who we are going to bring in, and what things will happen and we will go from there.’’"

LaMarcus Aldridge didn’t re-up any of his local sponsorships/endorsement deals and this is one of the key pieces of evidence Quick points to. Aldridge had an answer for that as well.

"“I just didn’t want to do anything this year,’’ Aldridge said. “Being in Portland for seven years, I have done everything I can do, so I’m just waiting it out to see if there is anything I like. I’ve done car deals, all types of stuff. So I’m just chillin.’’’"

Quick also points out that he was trying to cancel his condo, Aldridge downplayed that as people reading into whatever he does. His reasoning though was that he used it for family during the season and saw no need to have it during the summer.

After the game Quick questioned Aldridge again. Quick had learned at some point during the game that Aldridge was trying to put a clause in his lease that said if he were traded he wouldn’t have to pay penalties for breaking the lease.

"“This is why I hate being in Portland,’’ he told me. “You can’t do anything.’’"