Former Portland Trail Blazers forward Nicolas Batum revealed in a recent interview with ESPN’s Zach Lowe that he “knew [LaMarcus Aldridge] was gone” when Batum was traded from Portland to the Charlotte Hornets in June 2015.
Nicolas Batum: LaMarcus was a free agent, Wesley Matthews was a free agent, and Robin Lopez was a free agent. So when I got traded, I’m like, OK, its over. LA is gone. When I got traded, I knew LA was gone.
Zach Lowe: Have you talked to LaMarcus about that, about that trade, and about him leaving?