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 yr 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 time, retaining issues, in his phrases, “actually easy.”
Every little thing he wants is right here, together with a state-of-the-art fitness center, the place we’ve set as much as shoot the quilt of SLAM 252. Behind one basket, stretching your entire size of the wall, is a blown-up picture of Lillard’s series-clinching three-pointer in opposition to the Rockets in 2014; behind the opposite, the unforgettable shot that knocked out the Thunder in 2019. Different photographs marking vital moments in Lillard’s life and profession encompass the court docket—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 accessible now.
A yr 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 time 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 performed, leaving him with just some days to pack his baggage and alter to his new state of affairs earlier than coaching camp started. It was all so hectic.
This summer time has been a refreshing change. Much less enterprise, extra household. Much less uncertainty, extra peace. Much less ready, extra motion. Lillard has been capable of concentrate on his coaching, embracing a holistic method that features a strict anti-inflammatory eating regimen. He even spent 4 days in Las Vegas understanding with retired Navy SEAL David Goggins.
Because the 2024-25 season looms, Lillard is ready in a approach that wasn’t doable final September, each bodily and mentally. Right here, he displays on the previous yr, his transition to Milwaukee, constructing chemistry with Giannis Antetokounmpo and rather more.
SLAM: What was it wish to work out with David Goggins and the way did that come about?
Damian Lillard: We had had many conversations during the last two-and-a-half years about getting collectively and coaching. And he would all the time inform me, like, ‘Man, I might 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 time.
It was undoubtedly 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 understand how laborious it’s to do these issues, after which he’s consistently demanding extra. I walked away from it simply understanding myself just a little bit higher, so far as like what you need to give. There have been lots of moments [where] I used to be able to stop. And he didn’t say, ‘Simply give me just a little bit extra.’ He was demanding much more after I had nothing left. He saved saying, ‘Don’t simply survive, you gotta conquer it.’ And the truth that I used to be ready to try this, I feel it did change one thing for me mentally so far as after I really feel like I’m breaking down and sporting down.
SLAM: Reflecting on final season, what are the challenges that include adapting to a brand new staff that folks on the skin are likely to overlook?
DL: I feel the primary factor folks 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 setting. Generally you allow one job for one more job and also you might need to relocate, however lots of people go job to job regionally. They don’t need to pack up their lives and go to a very completely different place. And that’s not one thing that everyone experiences the identical as us.
The quantity two factor is having to study to work with anyone new. And never simply having to—being anticipated to work collectively and determine it out immediately. And I feel that’s one thing folks don’t perceive. They only have a look at, This participant’s nice, that participant’s nice, you bought this, you bought that, they usually simply assume it’s imagined to work. However you gotta work out the way it works for everyone. Me enjoying with Giannis is one factor, however we’ve to determine how we work finest and the way that works for everyone, as a result of there are lots of guys which have to have the ability to do what they do finest and be able to succeed for the staff to succeed. So I feel lots of people have a look at two [people], they usually don’t have a look at the massive image of your entire staff.
SLAM: Now that you just’ve been capable of get settled a bit in Milwaukee, is there a stage of consolation and peace that you just assume will translate to the court docket?
DL: I undoubtedly assume there may be. Like I mentioned, having the ability to come again and do every little thing to arrange myself to one of the best of my potential is the very first thing. I do know that when this summer time 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 energy 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 time I’m gonna take off and go on all these holidays and do all these items. I spent lots of time with the those that I actually care about and that I need to be round, and that’s my children, my mother, my nephews, my sister, my brother, my cousins. We didn’t do a complete lot, we simply spent lots of time round one another. And I feel that that did me very nicely this summer time. 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]. Realizing 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 completely different. And all of these issues give me a special stage of peace going into it than I ever might’ve had final yr.
SLAM: You talked final yr concerning the problem of determining who you might be on the Bucks. With a yr beneath your belt, have you ever figured it out?
DL: I feel I undoubtedly have a a lot better thought coming off of final season and solely attending to know the employees higher. Even over the summer time, 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 important for me. I do know that I don’t have to play the identical sort of sport that I performed for the primary 11 years of my profession, however I feel my mentality needs to be what my mentality has all the time been. As an alternative of attempting to return and overly slot in, I feel I used to be introduced in to be who I’m. I spent an excessive amount of time attempting to ease my approach into, What does it appear like?, as a substitute of simply asserting myself and being who I’m. Trying 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 grow to be [more outspoken] the extra that I begin to construct relationships with folks, particularly on the staff. And I feel because the season went on, me and him undoubtedly began to speak an increasing number of, and I began to return 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 time, 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 loads nearer because the season went on and we began to study [about] one another loads 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 discuss particularly about constructing pick-and-roll chemistry with Giannis? How has that developed?
DL: To start out the yr, we simply weren’t in lots of pick-and-rolls collectively for a very long time. We have been enjoying in transition, or I used to be in ISO, or he was in ISO. It simply wasn’t lots of pick-and-rolls. The easiest way to get chemistry in pick-and-rolls is to be in lots of pick-and-rolls collectively. And I feel it acquired to the purpose with Doc the place he was having us in follow, 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 virtually just like the staff was laughing at us, simply repping it out time and again.
Then in video games, we ended up being in lots of these actions collectively much more the second half of the yr. I began to see what he was pondering, and I feel he began to see what I used to be pondering, after which we might discuss it. When you begin to construct chemistry, then I can begin directing just a little bit extra as a result of we’re extra related, as a substitute of me simply attempting 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 desires me to do some bit completely different, nevertheless it’s laborious to determine that out whenever you’re not in lots 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 undoubtedly [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’ve groups that made huge free company strikes, groups that made trades, all forms of issues passed off. So clearly that’s going to be what’s attractive. Once I acquired traded to Milwaukee, it was like, Oh, the Bucks gonna win! Everyone simply jumped on it, ? So when one thing main occurs or one thing huge occurs for a staff, particularly if it’s already an excellent staff, like in fact [that’s the reaction]. Rightfully so, all of these forms of groups are going to be talked about on the prime.
SLAM: On the Membership 520 Podcast, you talked about how consistency tends to get boring for folks, to the purpose the place it begins to go neglected. 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 all the time felt like I used to be underappreciated. I had an underdog mentality. Generally even after I was getting credit score, I felt like I wasn’t getting sufficient credit score or they have 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 ought to be acknowledged. After which quick ahead to being named to the seventy fifth Anniversary Group, [that was] like, the last 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 these items, however I’m all the time productive. Even in a season like final season the place I really feel like I might have been higher in lots of areas, I nonetheless had a productive season, and we have been nonetheless a profitable staff all through the season—a two-seed for just about your entire season. I feel folks simply form of look previous it due to what they assume we ought to be or no matter their private opinions are. However the truth of the matter is, I’ve all the time been productive. That is gonna be my thirteenth season, and I proceed to only present up and be productive. And my staff is all the time an excellent staff. Over time, persons are similar to, Yeah, you don’t have a hoop. What’s subsequent? However I feel they get tired of the truth that I simply do it time and again and time and again and over. It’s like, Do one thing else. When it’s actually, like, I’m exhibiting up, placing my finest foot ahead.
SLAM: We see how a lot enjoyable you’re having together with your children immediately. Are you able to describe the motivation that you just get from them?
DL: I get lots of motivation from being a dad and from my children as a result of how I used to be raised—like, the ideas and the values that my mother and father raised me with—having my very own children, now I acquired much more satisfaction about these issues. There are some mornings the place I gotta work out at 6:30 and I’ll get my children up and produce them in right here. They could have a pill or no matter it’s so they’re entertained and never getting in the best way, 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. Loads 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 need to see me be the last 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 children after 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 children will likely be sufficiently old to know like, This was occurring to my dad or, This was what folks have been saying about my dad, and there can even be proof of how I responded to these issues. Regardless of the state of affairs is, I’ll be the instance for my children and my nephews and nieces, the place they’ll be like, He’s not simply telling us this, there will likely be proof of, like, That is who I’m. I feel that’ll give them a way of satisfaction, as a result of they’ll see it with their very own eyes. And I really feel that approach as a result of that’s how I really feel about my dad. He mentioned all these items to me and I see him stroll that out. In order that’s the form of motivation I’ve. It’s not about—if I win a championship, that’d be nice. That’s a cherry on prime. However the way you signify your self and what you stand on as a human, I feel that’s most essential. So I get lots of motivation from the alternatives to indicate that even when it’s a tricky or a nasty state of affairs.
Portraits by Gabe Pineda, Victory Artistic Group.
