Damian Lillard on his return to Portland | Press Conference | 1.31.2024

Damian Lillard on his return to Portland | Press Conference | 1.31.2024

Finally back in the gym here the experience you’ve had in the last 24 hours has been what for you um I mean it’s just been like being back home you know um obviously I spent a lot of time here I live here so um it’s definitely

Home but being away from my family the last you know four or five months and being away from my kids um and being away from where I’ve been you know pretty much my entire adulthood has been a transition it’s been different so um coming back the game being scheduled

Around the time of my my kids birthday so I was you know I spent some time at Adidas yesterday um you know they renamed the gym after me which was a you know a huge honor and then uh celebrated my kids birthday so you know just being

Being able to be with them for their birthday uh being around my family seeing all the the faces being in my house you know things like that it’s just it’s just great to be back Dam how did it feel being visitor’s locker room for the first time

Here it was weird um you know I walked in and as I was coming in I was um instinctively about to just keep walking down the hall and uh you know everybody was kind of you know having the cameras out and I really didn’t know where to go

I never been in the the visitor’s locker room until today so um walking in there it just felt weird to be in Portland and to be in this building and then not be going to the home Locker room so that was a little bit different um this

Morning was different you know being in the arena for shoot around but um you know a lot of things this this year have been different so um you know it wasn’t too crazy but I I definitely felt the the difference going in that locker room Dame in this building you’ve had so

Many like iconic moments the grabbing the mic after the Houston shot yeah the waving bye-bye tapping your wrist yeah can you maybe explain where the emotion came in those moments and how you were able to kind of have those organic scenes uh I think it’s just the

The investment you know I think a lot of times for for me personally I’m not a overly emotional person you know I don’t always show a lot of emotion I’ve been that way since I was a kid so it usually comes when it’s something that I’m heavily invested in which you know this

City and this this organization I’ve have been uh extremely invested in you know to early in my career to to prove myself and to prove people wrong and then as my career progressed I wanted to to prove that I was you know somebody that I was able to continue to grow and

Continue to challenge myself and go to new levels and uh also wanting to win for the Blazers you know I was you know heavily invested in that so I think when your your heart is in something like that and uh you’ve been an underdog your whole life I think emotion comes from

That you know when you kind of are able to rise up and have moments like I’ve had in a Trailblazers uniform I think it just it comes out organically and I think that’s why I was never you know planning celebrations or planning anything everything just kind of came

From a uh you know true feelings and uh a true investment Dame do you think you’ll get some sort of feeling of catharsis or closure by playing in this game like sort of checking the Box off of playing here as a visitor no I wouldn’t I wouldn’t say that I think

Um my my relationship to the city and the fans here the organization I think is just it’s never ending you know I don’t look at it as closure or anything like that um I just I just know that it’s something that you know is it doesn’t happen often you know to come

Into a city as a draft pick uh to be able to to have so many accomplishments to have a good relationship with the fans a good relationship with the organization uh to experience a lot of success you know a lot of the things that I I experienced

Here I know that is is GNA always be a part of me you know it’s going to be it’s going to be a huge part of um my legacy and what I’ve been able to accomplish as a man as a athlete um so that’s not something that I’m that I’m

Ever going to say oh I’m going have closure on it you know it’ll always be a part of me because everything that i’ I’ve said you know how I felt about uh my time I’m in it so it’s not you know it’s no reason to say oh this is closure

And putting it behind me or anything like that you know it’s it’s a huge part of my journey and it’s an important part of my journey so I you know I’ll always appreciate that and I always you know hold that close to me and I don’t think um anything other than that is

Necessary Dame will you allow yourself to soak it in especially the pregame moments yeah I don’t think uh I don’t think it’ll be my choice whether I allow myself to or or not you know I think it’ll just be you know um I won’t go out

Of my way to not do something as much as I won’t go out of my way to do something that’s not not natural and I think um it goes back to what I just said you know my feelings about playing here my feelings about you know uh putting my

Best foot forward uh for the organization while I was here it was it was genuine you know and it it weighed on me heavy so um I’m sure it’ll be a lot of emotions you know um just being back out there and um you know seeing the

Familiar faces a lot of people in the crowd you know I’m going to recognize those faces cuz I’ve seen them so many times for so many years um so it’ll I’ll let it be what it is you know I don’t I’m not going to cry or nothing like

That you know I’m not a I’m not a big crier but you know I’m not going to I’m not going to hide the emotions that I feel from it because I think it’s a moment that means a lot to me and a lot of other people hey Dame this is the first time

That Adidas North America named one of their locations after an athlete what does that mean to you to be the first it means a lot um to be the first is is a big deal but just to have it happen uh for me means a

Lot I think um a lot of times you want to uh look at what you’ve accomplished and how many points you’ve scored and you know what your uh I guess range of accomplishments might be as a athlete as the reason why some things happen and I think when something like this happen

For um a company who has a a long line of success you know a lot of guys came before me a lot of guys um have been during my time um and to be the first one I think it just speaks to um who

They’ve known me to be um a lot of times people just you know they able to see what we do on the floor or on the field or whatever sport you might play and you know you have people around you and people protect your brand and they protect you know who they want

People to see you as and things like that and um that’s just kind of how it goes and I think for me being in Portland Adidas headquarters being in Portland they were able to to see me up close on a regular basis they was able to see me in like frustrating moments

They was able to see me in adversity in times when I struggled you know and times when I failed they was able to see me with my family you know they they saw it parts of me that you typically won’t see you know that you’ll get protected

From and I think they just saw that I was who I said I was and you know I was somebody that was uh valuable to them as an asset um as a athlete and as a person and I think um when you put all those things together it’s just it’s uncommon

And I recognize it as that you know so um I look at it as them acknowledging that that about me and um you know giving me such a special honor like that hey Dame um considering um after you made your trade request did you feel comfortable with the way the the Blazers

Handled their side of that and did you feel in the end feel respected by the way that process played out did I feel respected by how they handled it in in what way in in the way they went about finding a new home for you and and with

The way they communicated with you during that process I mean end up being a pretty lengthy process I mean I I understand um that because of the relationship and because of the time put in on both sides the investment on both sides um that it

Was a it was an emotional time um so it was of course there was things that happened that um I might have done that was viewed a certain way at the time because it was emotional when it you know was probably unintentional or you know it wasn’t malicious but it was

Viewed that way because of what was happening um and they could say the same for me you know so of course it was a little bit of U tension and misunderstanding probably some miscommunication but I think that’s that’s normal you know when you part in

Ways and anything and um for any of you guys it would be the same if you was leaving your job or you know something like that so I don’t um I can’t deny that it it probably was some of that and um you know I ended up in a great

Situation and um you know the the team was in a a spot where they had to pick a path you know which way you going to go and um I think we both ended up getting what we what we was looking for Dame have you and Joe talked since

All that stuff went down in the summer like since the trade since any of that no how’s the transition been to the Bucks and how’s it been playing with Giannis so far um I think it’s been a it’s been a a a real transition for me

Um like I said before is my entire life I’ve always been you know right there with my family um I’ve always had my support system nearby you know and this is the first time in a long time that I I haven’t had that you know just for my

Life you know for how I function in my day-to-day and I think that’s a that’s a huge part of how I’m able to go into to do my job you know just being full and having that that around me so that’s been an adjustment um obviously I’m uh I

Have three kids and I’m I’m close with my kids and living away from my kids is a for anybody who has kids they would know the you know the kind of battle that that is so that’s been a major transition for me um but playing with

Giannis has been uh it’s been great you know I think playing with another top 75 player a two-time MVP Defensive Player of the Year a champion Finals MVP um I’m just able to feel the luxury it is to have you know a guy is dominant

That he is on the floor with me um you know where a lot of nights I would feel like man I got to dominate this quarter or dominate this game or I got to come up big in this moment um it almost can make you relax a

Little bit um when you know that it’s a guy out there that can just go go get it every single time so um it’s been an honor to to play with him it’s been a great being a part of a team that is kind of in the stage of their careers

That that I am um you know they’ve tasted winning and they want to get back to that uh so for me I think it’s just been a great situation um as far as basketball and um we aren’t a finished product you know I think anytime you take a player like myself from a

Completely separate situation and plug it in is going to be an adjustment process um you don’t know how long it’s it’s going to take um you just hope that you can continue to work towards what you want it to become and I think for us we’ve we haven’t uh reached where we

Want to be we’ve won a lot of games in a process and um you know we just working on getting towards that that destination of being that team that’s functioning at 100% and hopefully it’ll happen at the right time you know once we get to the

Postseason Dame you know this is a young Blazers team that you’re going up against tonight you know Anthony Simon scoop trying to bring in a new era here to Portland what’s the feeling like for you going against this new team here in theota that’s trying to bring something

New to the Portland area now I mean I this this isn’t our first time playing them um you know and obviously the the league is is speeding up you know from when I came in League to now everybody’s playing extremely fast and um obviously them being a young team a lot of

Athletes um a lot of talent um they going to play at a fast pace you know and I think it’s it’s like when you play against young teams they can be a handful you know sometimes they don’t win a lot of games but it’s not easy to

Just go in there and get a win um they got a lot of talent um good athletes they compete um well coached and you know it’s going it’s going to be a tough game you know um we got to go out there and do what we got

To do and I’m excited to to be back on the floor uh here in the motor Center and uh just to to be in another NBA game you know obviously it’s um our main focus to win the game You know despite everything else that’s happening around

Us so um we going we going to play the game with respect and we going to do what we what we go out there and do every night Dane would you consider ever playing for the Blazers again and if so what would have to happen um I think

Because of um how I feel about Portland how I feel about the the organization here my time that I spent here um in my mind I’ve always felt like that’s that’s how my career would end um and right now I I’m just in a space of like this is

Where I am now you know I’m in Milwaukee um I wanted the opportunity to to contend and our team has the opportunity contend for this year and years to come and I’m just living in that you know but I I definitely um like I said when I was traded I see a day

Where you know I’ll be in a TR Blazer uniform again you know before I’m done but um like I said I’m just I’m in this time and um to accomplish what we want to accomplish you got to be fully invested in that and um you know I can’t

Let I can’t let this time you know just kind of slip away worrying about you know looking too far into the FI future Dame uh you’ve always paid a lot of attention to what’s going on around the league and you’re a basketball fan obviously do you pay any extra attention

To this team here and what’s going on here uh I wouldn’t say uh what’s going on but I mean I’m I’m super tight with ant and um you know I I’ve watched his development and that process for him really closely and I’ve been a part of

It we train together in the summer um even during the season this year we talk all the time you know what I’m saying like I’ve I’ve been a part of that so for me as a brother and friend of his like I’m I’m rooting for him you know I

Want I wish for his success and I think for that reason I kind of if I can’t catch a game I’m going to check the box score to see how he played we text we FaceTime we talk after games um but for that reason mostly you know what I’m

Saying it’s a lot of new faces I’m not I don’t really know everybody um but I’ve definitely you know caught my share of games where we not playing our game ends and it’s like late but the West Coast games are starting um if it’s a a Trailblazers game I’ll I’ll watch how’s

A doing how do you feel about it how’s what how’s Aunt doing you feel I think he’s doing great yeah I think he’s doing great um I believe you know Dame just what is it like even walking into a press conference like this this is not normal for a pregame

Situation and yeah just just what is that feeling like for you and knowing that you’re you’re always going to be linked to this organization I mean it’s just it’s just kind of weird you know um even though I knew I was coming here as

A a visitor like once I got in my house and like I took my son to school this morning it was almost like you kind of start to forget like man it’s a you know this is a road game um so doing this kind of gives me that feeling it’s like

Like man you know I’ve I’m not quite used to not living here you know uh you touched on it briefly about having team teammates that are the same age as you I mean you’ve obvious been been a mentor and I know there’s young guys on the team but was it kind of

Refreshing to be surrounded by a bunch of vets that all have kind of the same mindset as you do um I wouldn’t say it’s been refreshing I think it’s more than anything it’s it’s encouraging you know for what I want for myself in my career right now just knowing

Like these guys have won these guys want to win again you know they’re close in age with me you know it’s not like you know guys got kids they’re not coming and putting all this time into this to not experience the highest level of success you know so um I think that’s

That’s really encouraging for me um but I can’t say um it’s refreshing because uh you know I I’ve always enjoyed por into younger players you know I think that that does something for me as a player you know when I know that I’m invested in something outside of myself

And I’m able to to see it grow and to see that I’ve been impactful and helpful to like younger players cuz I know how hard it is in this league you know your family they don’t understand because they haven’t they haven’t walked this walk um the expectations that you have

Coming in the the pressure um you know coming into these organizations and like they’ll show you love when they they bring you in but at the end of the day it’s a job you know and this this the highest level of the job and if you’re not getting it done

It’s going to be it going to come down on you you know you need to lose weight you need to get better as a shooter you need to work on this you need to work on that and the people around you they don’t they don’t know what that’s like

Coming in every day having to kind of continue to mold yourself to be able to stick in this league so um I know how important it is you know for for young players to have somebody that can not only push them in the same direction but

Um be there to support them through it and I’ve always enjoyed that that part of this job so um like I said I can’t say it’s refreshing but it is encouraging for for what I want to accomplish right now have you talked to anybody about what a night like tonight

Is I like or kind of thought about how you experience those emotions and still maintain focus on the game uh I talked to CJ this morning after I dropped my son off I was in a car and I was driving down here for shoot around and uh he just called me like he

Knew the he knew the time you know so he called me and he was just like hey man like embrace it you know it’s going to be emotional like it’s you know we put our time in we put our work in and you know

We we had our moments you know we it was a a lot of years of us giving everything we had and um you know we were appreciated you know when he came back he was like you know it was that moment of you know I felt the appreciation for

Everything that we put into it and he was like you really going to feel it so um that was the the most conversation I had about it everybody else was just like how you feeling what do you think you know and I’m just like man I don’t

Even I’m happy to see my kids and be around my family and things like that and then everything else I’ll just kind of deal with it as it comes

Dame Lillard speaks with media ahead of his first game back in Portland.

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