The home is secluded and peaceable, a contemporary construction with giant home windows on the finish of an extended driveway. It was completed roughly a 12 months in the past, simply earlier than its proprietor, Damian Lillard, was traded from the Path Blazers to the Bucks. Lillard returned as quickly because the season ended and has been within the Portland space for many of the summer season, conserving issues, in his phrases, “actually easy.”
The whole lot he wants is right here, together with a state-of-the-art gymnasium, the place we’ve set as much as shoot the quilt of SLAM 252. Behind one basket, stretching the complete size of the wall, is a blown-up picture of Lillard’s series-clinching three-pointer towards the Rockets in 2014; behind the opposite, the unforgettable shot that knocked out the Thunder in 2019. Different images marking important moments in Lillard’s life and profession encompass the courtroom—of household and pals, of award ceremonies and celebrations, of dunks and game-winners. “All a part of the story,” he says.
SLAM 252 that includes Damian Lillard is offered now.
A 12 months in the past, Lillard wasn’t certain the place the subsequent chapter of that story would unfold. After requesting a commerce in July, his summer season plans needed to be altered. He couldn’t play competitively—couldn’t practice as rigorously as he likes to—figuring out that an damage would compromise negotiations. He waited three months till the cope with Milwaukee was finished, leaving him with only a few days to pack his luggage and modify to his new state of affairs earlier than coaching camp started. It was all so hectic.
This summer season has been a refreshing change. Much less enterprise, extra household. Much less uncertainty, extra peace. Much less ready, extra motion. Lillard has been in a position to concentrate on his coaching, embracing a holistic strategy that features a strict anti-inflammatory eating regimen. He even spent 4 days in Las Vegas figuring out with retired Navy SEAL David Goggins.
Because the 2024-25 season looms, Lillard is ready in a method that wasn’t attainable final September, each bodily and mentally. Right here, he displays on the previous 12 months, his transition to Milwaukee, constructing chemistry with Giannis Antetokounmpo and way more.
SLAM: What was it prefer to work out with David Goggins and the way did that come about?
Damian Lillard: We had had many conversations over the past two-and-a-half years about getting collectively and coaching. And he would at all times inform me, like, ‘Man, I may take you to the subsequent stage so far as your conditioning and your thoughts.’ And I needed to do it. It was only a matter of discovering the time and alternative that match each of our schedules. And that point got here this summer season.
It was positively a problem bodily. A whole lot of these workout routines and conditioning drills that he pushes you thru are a problem. It pushes you previous your limits. However I feel it was extra of a psychological factor than something. You notice how laborious it’s to do these issues, after which he’s always demanding extra. I walked away from it simply understanding myself a little bit bit higher, so far as like what you need to give. There have been loads of moments [where] I used to be able to stop. And he didn’t say, ‘Simply give me a little bit bit extra.’ He was demanding much more once I had nothing left. He saved saying, ‘Don’t simply survive, you gotta conquer it.’ And the truth that I used to be in a position to do this, I feel it did change one thing for me mentally so far as once I really feel like I’m breaking down and carrying down.
SLAM: Reflecting on final season, what are the challenges that include adapting to a brand new staff that folks on the surface are inclined to overlook?
DL: I feel the primary factor individuals don’t perceive is the change that it’s for the particular person—the change that comes with selecting up and going into a brand new surroundings. Generally you permit one job for one more job and also you might need to relocate, however lots of people go job to job domestically. They don’t must pack up their lives and go to a totally totally different place. And that’s not one thing that everyone experiences the identical as us.
The quantity two factor is having to be taught to work with any individual new. And never simply having to—being anticipated to work collectively and determine it out straight away. And I feel that’s one thing individuals don’t perceive. They simply take a look at, This participant’s nice, that participant’s nice, you bought this, you bought that, they usually simply suppose it’s presupposed to work. However you gotta determine the way it works for everyone. Me enjoying with Giannis is one factor, however now we have to determine how we work greatest and the way that works for everyone, as a result of there are loads of guys which have to have the ability to do what they do greatest and be ready to succeed for the staff to succeed. So I feel lots of people take a look at two [people], they usually don’t take a look at the massive image of the complete staff.
SLAM: Now that you just’ve been in a position to get settled a bit in Milwaukee, is there a stage of consolation and peace that you just suppose will translate to the courtroom?
DL: I positively suppose there’s. Like I stated, having the ability to come again and do the whole lot to organize myself to one of the best of my means is the very first thing. I do know that when this summer season ends and I prepare to return to Milwaukee, I’m gonna return ready, not simply due to what I did for my physique, my PT, my power and conditioning and my eating regimen—all of these issues are nice for me bodily however having the ability to come right here and I didn’t say, All proper, this summer season I’m gonna take off and go on all these holidays and do all this stuff. I spent loads of time with the those that I actually care about and that I need to be round, and that’s my youngsters, my mother, my nephews, my sister, my brother, my cousins. We didn’t do a complete lot, we simply spent loads of time round one another. And I feel that that did me very effectively this summer season. So going again figuring out that I’m bodily ready and I’m mentally ready and it’s a extra acquainted state of affairs. We gained some stability with [head coach] Doc [Rivers]. Figuring out who I’m gonna go play for, having a a lot better understanding of the staff, figuring out guys now—I imply, it’s simply totally different. And all of these issues give me a unique stage of peace going into it than I ever may’ve had final 12 months.
SLAM: You talked final 12 months in regards to the problem of determining who you’re on the Bucks. With a 12 months underneath your belt, have you ever figured it out?
DL: I feel I positively have a a lot better thought coming off of final season and solely attending to know the workers higher. Even over the summer season, spending time round them, speaking to them, and in addition having the ability to step away and look again, I’ve a a lot better thought what is critical for me. I do know that I don’t have to play the identical kind of sport that I performed for the primary 11 years of my profession, however I feel my mentality must be what my mentality has at all times been. As an alternative of making an attempt to come back and overly slot in, I feel I used to be introduced in to be who I’m. I spent an excessive amount of time making an attempt to ease my method into, What does it appear like?, as an alternative of simply asserting myself and being who I’m. Wanting again now and in addition being there for a while, I feel my understanding of that’s a lot better.
SLAM: How has your relationship and chemistry with Giannis advanced and the place is it at now?
DL: I feel it developed nice over the course of the season. He’s not a brilliant talkative particular person and I’m not a brilliant talkative particular person myself. Over time, I’ve turn into [more outspoken] the extra that I begin to construct relationships with individuals, particularly on the staff. And I feel because the season went on, me and him positively began to speak increasingly, and I began to come back to his home to do conditioning or work out collectively. We’re on the telephone. I’m sending him clips and stuff like that. And this summer season, we’ve been in fixed communication. We each know that we want one another. I feel he’s excited coming into the season similar to I’m, as a result of we grew to become quite a bit nearer because the season went on and we began to be taught [about] one another quite a bit higher. So having a full offseason of being related to one another and having the ability to go into this subsequent season, I feel we’re each going to be prepared. And we’re each excited to do what we gotta do.
SLAM: Are you able to speak particularly about constructing pick-and-roll chemistry with Giannis? How has that developed?
DL: To start out the 12 months, we simply weren’t in loads of pick-and-rolls collectively for a very long time. We had been enjoying in transition, or I used to be in ISO, or he was in ISO. It simply wasn’t loads of pick-and-rolls. One of the simplest ways to get chemistry in pick-and-rolls is to be in loads of pick-and-rolls collectively. And I feel it received to the purpose with Doc the place he was having us in observe, simply, Set it. Throw it to Giannis. Giannis, give it again to Dame. All proper, Dame, throw it again. All proper, Giannis, uphill DHO. It was nearly just like the staff was laughing at us, simply repping it out again and again.
Then in video games, we ended up being in loads of these actions collectively much more the second half of the 12 months. I began to see what he was considering, and I feel he began to see what I used to be considering, after which we might speak about it. When you begin to construct chemistry, then I can begin directing a little bit bit extra as a result of we’re extra related, as an alternative of me simply making an attempt to inform him what I would like him to do [when] we haven’t even actually labored collectively on it. [I was] wanting to offer him the respect of, like, he might need one thing that he needs me to do some bit totally different, but it surely’s laborious to determine that out whenever you’re not in loads of pick-and-rolls collectively. And because the season went on, I began to see how I could make the sport simpler for him, and I feel he began to see what I wanted from him to be free out of the pick-and-roll. And from right here, I feel it’ll proceed to only get higher.
SLAM: Do you’re feeling like persons are overlooking the Bucks heading into this season?
DL: Yeah, I feel persons are positively [doing that], and that’s how the league is. It’s like, on to the subsequent factor. There are youthful groups on the rise, you may have groups that made massive free company strikes, groups that made trades, all forms of issues befell. So clearly that’s going to be what’s attractive. Once I received traded to Milwaukee, it was like, Oh, the Bucks gonna win! Everyone simply jumped on it, you realize? So when one thing main occurs or one thing massive occurs for a staff, particularly if it’s already staff, like in fact [that’s the reaction]. Rightfully so, all of these forms of groups are going to be talked about on the high.
SLAM: On the Membership 520 Podcast, you talked about how consistency tends to get boring for individuals, to the purpose the place it begins to go ignored. Are you able to elaborate on {that a} bit and the way you’ve seen that play out throughout your profession?
DL: I feel early in my profession, I at all times felt like I used to be underappreciated. I had an underdog mentality. Generally even once I was getting credit score, I felt like I wasn’t getting sufficient credit score or they had been ignoring what I used to be doing. After which I feel I reached a degree in my profession the place I began to get acknowledged how I felt I needs to be acknowledged. After which quick ahead to being named to the seventy fifth Anniversary Crew, [that was] like, the final word nod to what my physique of labor has been and the way constant I’ve been since I stepped foot within the NBA.
However on the podcast, I used to be actually simply saying, like, I’m not loud and I’m not saying an excessive amount of and doing all this stuff, however I’m at all times productive. Even in a season like final season the place I really feel like I may have been higher in loads of areas, I nonetheless had a productive season, and we had been nonetheless a profitable staff all through the season—a two-seed for just about the complete season. I feel individuals simply type of look previous it due to what they suppose we needs to be or no matter their private opinions are. However the truth of the matter is, I’ve at all times been productive. That is gonna be my 13th season, and I proceed to only present up and be productive. And my staff is at all times staff. Over time, persons are similar to, Yeah, you don’t have a hoop. What’s subsequent? However I feel they get uninterested in the truth that I simply do it again and again and again and again and over. It’s like, Do one thing else. When it’s actually, like, I’m displaying up, placing my greatest foot ahead.
SLAM: We see how a lot enjoyable you’re having together with your youngsters at present. Are you able to describe the motivation that you just get from them?
DL: I get loads of motivation from being a dad and from my youngsters as a result of how I used to be raised—like, the rules and the values that my mother and father raised me with—having my very own youngsters, now I received much more delight about these issues. There are some mornings the place I gotta work out at 6:30 and I’ll get my youngsters up and produce them in right here. They may have a pill or no matter it’s so they’re entertained and never getting in the way in which, however they’ll sit over there whereas I work out as a result of I would like them to have the ability to see, like, this didn’t simply come out of nowhere. You gotta work laborious for stuff. You gotta do stuff that you just don’t need to do. Quite a bit goes into the life that you just guys have. And I would like them, from a younger age, to know what it means to work laborious for issues and sacrifice. I say that to say, they must see me be the final word instance of what I preach to them.
And the motivation is available in the place, if I’m being criticized, or if I’m struggling, or if one thing makes me uncomfortable, I take into consideration my youngsters once I’m having to reply to these forms of conditions. I do know that, particularly with the web and cameras being in every single place, there’s gonna come a day the place my youngsters shall be sufficiently old to know like, This was taking place to my dad or, This was what individuals had been saying about my dad, and there may also be proof of how I responded to these issues. Regardless of the state of affairs is, I’ll be the instance for my youngsters and my nephews and nieces, the place they’ll be like, He’s not simply telling us this, there shall be proof of, like, That is who I’m. I feel that’ll give them a way of delight, as a result of they’ll see it with their very own eyes. And I really feel that method as a result of that’s how I really feel about my dad. He stated all these things to me and I see him stroll that out. In order that’s the type of motivation I’ve. It’s not about—if I win a championship, that’d be nice. That’s a cherry on high. However the way you characterize your self and what you stand on as a human, I feel that’s most vital. So I get loads of motivation from the alternatives to point out that even when it’s a tricky or a foul state of affairs.
Portraits by Gabe Pineda, Victory Inventive Group.
