Damian Lillard ahead of first game back in Portland: ‘It’s just been like being back home’

Damian Lillard played 813 games as a Portland Trail Blazers across 11 seasons, but never once entered the visitor’s locker room. Until Wednesday, that is.

“It was weird. I walked in and as I was coming in, I was instinctively about to just keep walking down the hall (to the home locker room) and everybody was kind of having their cameras out and I really didn’t know where to go,” Lillard said ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks’ matchup against the Trail Blazers. “I’d never been in the visitor’s locker room until today. So, walking in there, it just felt weird to be in Portland and be in this building and not be going to the home locker room, so that was a bit different.”

Lillard was traded by Portland to the Bucks in September, sending away the Blazers’ franchise scoring leader. After 44 games with Milwaukee, Lillard is back in Rip City.

And here is the standing ovation for Damian Lillard in Portland: pic.twitter.com/SYJ5AL2A0d

— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) February 1, 2024

He said, “It’s just been like being back home.

“I live here, so it’s definitely home. But being away from my family for the last four, five months and being away from my kids and being away from where I’ve been pretty much my entire adulthood, it’s been a transition.”

The seven-time All-Star said Wednesday’s return conveniently comes around the time of his child’s birthday. He added he’s spent time at the Adidas headquarters, where the company renamed a gym after him.

The Bucks entered Wednesday’s game with a 32-15 record, second-best in the East, while Portland was 14-33, second-worst in the West.

But as welcoming as Portland was — with multiple video tributes sprinkled throughout the game — the underdog Blazers made sure to send Lillard and Co. back to Milwaukee disappointed. The Bucks fell 119-116 as Lillard scored 25 points on 23 shots.

Before the game, Lillard was asked if Wednesday would bring any closure with the franchise he scored 19,376 points with. The seven-time All-NBA guard said it’s more complicated than that.

“My relationship to the city and the fans here, the organization, it’s never ending,” he said. “I don’t look at it as closure or anything like that, I just know that it’s something that doesn’t happen often. To come into a city as a draft pick, to be able to have so many accomplishments, to have a good relationship with the fans, a good relationship with the organization, to experience a lot of success. … It’s going to be a huge part of my legacy and what I’ve been able to accomplish as a man, as an athlete.”

Lillard is averaged 25.1 points, 6.8 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game this season. Milwaukee will be playing its second game under new coach Doc Rivers, who was hired Jan. 26 after the team fired first-year coach Adrian Griffin after 43 games.

Rivers has experience in these types of games, having coached the Orlando Magic in Patrick Ewing’s second game as a Knicks visitor and the Boston Celtics in Kevin Garnett’s return game to Minnesota.

“I try to stay out of their way and let them have their day,” Rivers said. “The difference I would say is KG was his last year, Patrick Ewing it was his last year. Dame has a lot of basketball left in him and so you want him to enjoy that moment and then play really well. I mean, that’s what you want. But I can’t imagine how hard this must be for him to have to focus.

“From a coach perspective, you really don’t enjoy these. Because you’re trying to win this game, right? And we don’t know which way (it will go). I’ve seen guys come in and have huge nights. And I’ve seen guys struggle. And then I’ve seen guys have huge nights, but the team just defers to him the whole night and you don’t want any of that, so it’s one of those games where I’m literally just going to let it go and then try to figure out where we’re at emotionally during the game.”

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(Photo: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)