Damian Lillard asks the Portland Trail Blazers for a trade

Damian Lillard has said repeatedly that he wants to contend for a championship. After 11 years in Portland, he has decided he needs to move elsewhere to make that happen.

Lillard asked the Trail Blazers for a trade, a move that will end the seven-time All-Star’s tenure with that team, two people familiar with the matter said Saturday. The team later confirmed that Lillard had made the request.

Lillard is generating interest from the Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets, among others, according to the people who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no details were announced publicly. One of the people told the AP that Lillard’s preference is Miami — the reigning Eastern Conference champion — though that hardly guarantees the Trail Blazers will work to facilitate that specific move.

“We have been clear that we want Dame here, but he notified us today he wants out and he’d prefer to play someplace else,” Blazers general manager Joe Cronin said in a statement distributed by the team. “What has not changed for us is that we’re committed to winning, and we are going to do what’s best for the team in pursuit of that goal.”

Lillard is coming off a season in which he averaged 32.2 points for the Trail Blazers. He is a seven-time All-NBA selection and was selected to the NBA’s 75th anniversary team — but he has never been close to a title in his 11 seasons in the league.

He has met with Portland multiple times in recent weeks, asking for the roster to be upgraded to the point where he can compete for a championship. But those efforts, evidently, have not gone to Lillard’s liking and led to him asking to be moved.

His decision was revealed on the second day of NBA free agency, after Portland made a huge splash on the first night by retaining Jerami Grant with a $160 million, five-year deal.

For as great as his resume is, Lillard hasn’t enjoyed much in the way of postseason success. The Blazers have won only four playoff series in his 11 seasons, making the Western Conference finals once during that span. The team went 33-49 this past season, the second consecutive year of finishing well outside the playoff picture.

But Lillard is, by any measure, a dynamic player. He has averaged at least 24 points per game in each of the last eight seasons, and his career average of 25.2 points ranks fourth among active players (with at least 375 games) behind Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid and LeBron James. If that list was expanded to all players with no game minimums, Luka Doncic, Zion Williamson and Trae Young would also be ahead of Lillard.

He had a 71-point game this past season against Houston, has 17 games of at least 50 points in his career — two of them in the playoffs — and is a past rookie of the year, teammate of the year and winner of the NBA’s citizenship award. He’s even an Olympic gold medalist, winning one alongside Miami’s Bam Adebayo at the Tokyo Games and raving about how much he enjoyed playing with the Heat center.

The only glaring omission on Lillard’s resume is a championship. And now he’ll seek a move to change that.

“I would say I want to be remembered for who I was, not as a player, but the principle that I stood on regardless of how successful I was, how major the failure was, the criticism, what people thought I should have did, what people think of me … no matter what was happening, I want to be remembered for who I was,” Lillard said in an interview with former teammate Evan Turner for the “Point Forward” podcast earlier this year. “I stood tall. I’ve stood tall in every situation and I want to be remembered for that.”

Mark J. Terrill, Associated Press

Former Miami Heat guard Max Strus is headed to the Cleveland Cavaliers, agreeing to a $63 million, four-year deal that was finalized Saturday.

Around the league

LAKERS: Los Angeles kept two of its best guards. Austin Reaves agreed to a four-year deal that could be worth $56 million, and D’Angelo Russell returned to the Lakers as well on a $37 million, two-year deal.

BUCKS: Milwaukee kept its big man as the early trend in NBA free agency of most players staying put continued. The Bucks signed Brook Lopez to a $63 million, four-year deal that was finalized Saturday by making the transaction part of a three-team trade.

CLIPPERS: Russell Westbrook is staying where he ended last season, agreeing to a two-year deal with Los Angeles — after starting the last 21 games for Clippers in the regular season and their five playoff games. The second year is at Westbrook’s option. ESPN reported the deal was worth $8 million.

ROCKETS: Dillon Brooks — who made tons of headlines for his talking, on and off the court, during Memphis’ first-round playoff series against the Lakers — is getting a new home in Houston, after agreeing to a four-year deal worth nearly $80 million. ESPN reported it may become a sign-and-trade, one that would create a massive trade exception for the Grizzlies.

KNICKS: New York added another former NCAA champion from Villanova by agreeing to a deal with Donte DiVincenzo. The swingman joins college teammates Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart with a four-year, $50 million deal.

CAVALIERS: Max Strus has found a new home. Strus is headed from Miami to Cleveland, agreeing to a $63 million, four-year deal that was finalized Saturday by making the transaction part of a three-team trade.

HORNETS: LaMelo Ball agreed to an extension with Charlotte and he could also see the value escalate from $207 million to $260 million if he reaches All-NBA status.

MAVERICKS: Dwight Powell agreed to return to Dallas on a three-year contract, which could push the his tenure past 10 years for a secondary piece in the trade that brought Rajon Rondo from Boston in 2015. Rondo only spent that partial 2014-15 season with the Mavs.

HEAT: Miami added Thomas Bryant ($5.4 million, two years, second at his option) to give them some extra size. Bryant was with the Denver Nuggets for their title run.

MAGIC: Orlando retained Moritz Wagner ($16 million, two years).