Damian Lillard Says 'Good Luck' to Warriors If Trail Blazers Get Carmelo Anthony

As the Portland Trail Blazers continue to make their pitch for Carmelo Anthony, star point guard Damian Lillard has a message for the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors. 

Per Joe Freeman of The Oregonian (via Drew Shiller of CSNBayArea.com), Lillard wished the Warriors "good luck" if the Blazers trade for Anthony and the two teams square off in the playoffs:

"I can only imagine what it would be like having him iso'ing on one side, and C.J. in a corner, and me on the opposite wing and Nurk (Jusuf Nurkic)...I can only imagine how hard it would be to guard us when it's already hard to guard us.

"We can compete with anybody in the West, but I think when you get to those teams like Golden State, if we happen to run into them in a playoff situation now—we getting in the paint, and if they want to help off someone like Melo...good luck."

Warriors star Draymond Green responded to the comments:

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported July 17 the Trail Blazers are hoping to get in trade conversations with the New York Knicks about Anthony, but it would require him to waive his no-trade clause. 

In the same report, though, Wojnarowski noted Anthony is "counting on the [Knicks] to carry out its previously agreed upon mandate to trade him to the Houston Rockets."

Blazers star C.J. McCollum told Freeman Wednesday he believes Anthony is "interested" in joining the team.

The Blazers know the Warriors well thanks to meeting in the playoffs each of the last two years. The Warriors won both series, including a four-game sweep in the first round this season. Portland hasn't advanced past the second round of the postseason since 2000.