Portland Trail Blazers Coach Confirms LaMarcus Aldridge Is Leaving

In an interview with Rick Semmler ofWHTI TV in Terre Haute, Indiana, dated June 30th,Portland Trail BlazersAssistant Coach Kim Hughes stated that the Portland Trail Blazers are losing All-Star forwardLaMarcus Aldridgein free agency. The comment occurs at the 2:40 point of this video.

Portland Trail Blazers Coach Kim Hughes:

"We didn't publicize it but we lost LaMarcus Aldridge. It hasn't been declared yet but I'm sure he won't come back. We will go young..."

This appears to answer the question of whether Aldridge is staying or going and how much the Trail Blazers know about it.

Update:Oregonian writer Mike Tokito had this story first.

Update:The caption underneath the video at the WHTI website reads:

This past weekend former Robinson basketball star Meyers Leonard was back in his hometown hosting his second annual camp for kids.

While in town the Trial Blazers center talked about his strong end to the 2014-2015 season and what the future holds for him in Portland.

Since the video was published on June 30th, "this past weekend" would indicate Saturday and Sunday the 27th-28th of June. Leonard's camp was scheduled to run from the 26th-28th of June. The interview would have been conducted during that time span, indicating the Blazers knew of or suspected Aldridge's departure well before the July 1st Free Agent moratorium period commenced.

Update:Jason Quick of The Oregonian tweets that Hughes had no knowledge of the Blazers' personnel intentions.

FWIW: Blazers assistant Kim Hughes has, I'm told, ZERO knowledge of the team's free agent proceedings.

— Jason Quick (@jwquick)July 2, 2015

--Dave blazersub@gmail.com /@DaveDeckard/@Blazersedge