Damian Lillard (Damian Lamonte Ollie Lillard Sr.) is an American professional basketball player who currently (2022) plays as a point guard in the NBA club Portland Trail Blazers (Portland Trail Blazers). He was born on July 15, 1990 in Oakland, in the American state of California. With his wife KayLa Hanson, he has a son Damian (Damian Lamonte Ollie Lillard Jr.). Before signing for Portland, Lillard played with the Weber State Wildcats, Weber State University’s basketball team.
In 2012, he was included in the third-best five in the country. After being selected by Portland with the sixth pick in the 2012 NBA draft, Lillard was named NBA Rookie of the Year. Until 2022, he appeared in the All-Star match six times, becoming only the fourth player in the club’s history to receive such an honor.
In his spare time, the basketball player plays hip-hop and rap music. By the beginning of 2022, he had released four albums, titled “The Letter O”, “Confirmed”, “Big D.O.L.L.A” and “Different On Levels The Lord Allowed”.
Damian Lillard’s Quick Facts
| Real Name | Damian Lamonte Ollie Lillard Sr. |
| Nick Name | Dame, Big Game Dame |
| Date of Birth | July 15, 1990 |
| Birth Place | Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Weight | 195 lb (88 kg) |
| Age | 32 |
| Zodiac | Cancer |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Nationality | American |
| Hometown | Oakland, California, U.S. |
| School | Oakland High School |
| College | Weber State University |
| Profession | Basketball Player |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Net-Worth | $100 – 115 Million |
Damian Lillard’s Family and Musical Career
Damian Lillard was born in 1990 in Oakland. He has a sister, LaNae Lillard, and a brother, Houston. He wears the number 0 on his jersey, which at the same time represents the initial letter of the cities and countries where he grew up and started playing basketball, and to which he has some personal luck. At the end of March 2018, his longtime girlfriend KayLa Henson gave birth to a boy, Damian.
The basketball player’s talent for rap music was discovered by the public through social networks. Namely, for a while there was a “Four Bar Friday” trend on “Instagram” during which users posted their interpretations of various songs. Lillard wowed his fans with his rapping skills. He released the first single entitled “Soldier in the Game” in July 2015 via the SoundCloud internet service.
The basketball player released his debut album entitled “The Letter O” on October 21, 2016. A year later, his second album “Confirmed” was released. On August 9, 2019, released the album “Big. D.O.L.L.A”, and on August 20, 2021, album “Different On Levels The Lord Allowed”. In the meantime, he recorded the singles “Blacklist”, “Goat Spirit”, “Home Team” and “Kobe”. He collaborated with musicians Raphael Saadiq, Dreebo, Snoop Dogg and Derrick Milano.
Damian Lillard’s Career Performance in detail
Lillard started playing basketball in elementary school, but after he transferred to the private school of former NBA basketball player Jason Kidd in the second grade, his game took on a whole new dimension. However, due to insufficient playing time, he transferred to Oakland (Oakland High School) the following year, where his talent came to the fore.
During his first year in the junior jersey, he recorded 19.4 points per match, and during the second, 22.4 points and 5.2 assists. He helped his team record a streak of 23 wins and only nine losses. The website Rivals.com included him in the list of the most promising young players, and Lillard then accepted the invitation of Weber State University to become part of their basketball team.
In his first year, he recorded an average of 11.5 points per match, so he was declared the debutant of the year of the “Big Sky” tournament. With an average of 19.9 points per game, he led his team in championship wins.
He was named the player of the year in the “Big Sky” tournament, and included in the third-best team in America as chosen by the news agency “Associated Press”. Due to injury, he had to miss most of the 2010/11 season. Before that, he recorded 19.7 points per match. He set a career-high of 41 points on December 3, 2011 against San Jose State.
At the end of the year, he was again named the most valuable player of the “Big Sky” tournament, and included in the third-best team. In the middle of 2012, Lillard decided to “sacrifice” college in order to appear in the NBA draft. He finished his college career with 1,934 points, becoming the second-leading scorer in Weber State Wildcats history. In the 2012 NBA draft, he was selected as the sixth pick by the Portland Trail Blazers.
He made his debut on October 31 against the Lakers (Los Angeles Lakers) when he scored 23 points and 11 assists. He achieved a career record of 15 field goals on January 11 against the Golden State Warriors. At the end of the match, 37 points, six rebounds and four assists were written under his name.
He became the first Portland player to win the skills competition at NBA All-Star Weekend. He also participated in the “Rising Stars” tournament (“Rising Stars Challenge”), which is held as part of the All-Star Weekend. He set a new career record of 38 points on April 10 against the Lakers.
He was named the player of the month of the Western Division and ended the season as the fifth most accurate from the three-point line. He became one of only three NBA players to score over 1,500 points in his debut season. He scored 19 points, 3.1 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 0.90 steals per game. He played 82 matches, each as a starter, and spent around 38.6 minutes per game on the floor. He was named NBA Rookie of the Year.
At the start of the 2013/14 season, he scored 32 baskets in the Phoenix Suns net and then scored the same against Dallas Mavericks. He surpassed himself on December 17 when he scored 36 points and 10 assists during a duel with Cleveland (Cleveland Cavaliers). He had the same effect in the meeting with Minnesota (Minnesota Timberwolves).
On January 7, Portland was defeated by the Kings (Sacramento Kings) with a score of 123:119, and Lillard scored 41 points, including 26 in the fourth quarter. At the All-Star Weekend in 2014, he participated in as many as five competitions.
Lillard played all 82 games that season as a starter, scoring 20.7 points, 5.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game. Portland finished the regular season with 54 wins and 28 losses and took fifth place in the Western Division. In the first round of the playoffs, they met the Houston Rockets. In the first match of the playoffs, Damian recorded 31 points and nine rebounds and helped his team defeat Houston in overtime.
They made it past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2000. However, already in the second round, they suffered five defeats against the Spurs (San Antonio Spurs), so they were eliminated from the further fight for the title.
Lillard was named to the NBA’s third-best team. He ended the third season in a row with 82 appearances and every time he ran out onto the floor as a member of the starting five. He set new career highs in points, rebounds, steals and field goal accuracy, but recorded a low three-point shooting percentage.
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He scored over 40 points in the meetings with the Spurs and Oklahoma (Oklahoma City Thunder), while he recorded more than 35 points in the matches with the Lakers and the Clippers. They ended the regular season with 51 wins and 31 losses and finished as the fourth team in the Western Conference. In the first round of the playoffs, Portland met Memphis (Memphis Grizzlies), but they were defeated in all five matches. Lillard signed a new five-year contract worth 120 million dollars with Portland on July 9, 2015.
In the first match of the new season, he recorded 21 points and 11 assists and helped the Trail Blazers defeat the “Pelicans” (New Orleans Pelicans). With six hundred three-pointers in 247 matches and 1,500 assists, he entered NBA history. On October 30, at the meeting with the Finks Suns, he exceeded the record of Derick Rose with 5,000 points and 1,500 successful passes.
In December, in a match with the Knicks, he reached Clyde Drexler’s record with 600 points and 150 assists in the first 25 games of the new season. He missed the first match of his NBA career on December 21 due to an injury. This ended his streak of 275 consecutive appearances.
He returned to the court on January 4 before the match against Memphis and recorded 17 points and seven assists. Four days later, he set a new season record with 40 points in the Warriors net. On January 18, he became only the eighth player in history to score more than 2,000 points in three seasons.
Lillard recorded his tenth double-double performance in the 2015/16 season on January 26 during a duel with the Kings, and he scored a record 51 points against the Warriors on February 19. He became the first player in the history of the League to record over 50 points, seven assists and six steals in one match. Two days later, he became the first player after Drexler to score over 30 points in four consecutive matches.
In 300 appearances in the NBA, Lillard averaged 21.2 points and 6.2 assists. Damian played his fifteenth consecutive match with over 20 points on March 8. With 41 points, he helped his team defeat the Washington Wizards. In each of his four seasons in Portland, Lillard recorded over 400 assists.
At the end of the season, they met with the team from Denver (Denver Nuggets), and their first playmaker scored his 827th three-pointer in his career, breaking Wesley Matthews’ record. He ended the 2015/16 season with 25.1 points per game. After defeating the Clippers in the first round of the playoffs, Portland met the Warriors in the second round.
In the third meeting of the series, Lillard helped his team beat the “Warriors” by recording 40 points and ten assists. However, the Warriors were better in the series, and Portland was eliminated after four losses. In the first match of the 2016/17 season, they met with the Utah Jazz. Damian recorded 39 points, nine rebounds and six assists and helped his team beat Utah at home.
Great games followed, and on November 2, Lillard became the first player since Kobe Bryant to score over 27 points in the first five games. In the first eight games of that season, he scored 262 points, which is the most in franchise history. He broke the record set by Clyde Drexler in 1988 in the number of scored baskets.
Then, due to an ankle injury, he had to miss the next few matches. On January 28, Portland met with Golden State, and Damian scored the 8,000th point in his career, becoming only the third player to score more than eight thousand points and more than two thousand assists during his first five seasons in the NBA.
That season, he averaged 29.1 points, six assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. He broke the NBA record when he scored 59 points, including nine three-pointers, against the Jazz. Then he set a new League record by scoring over 30 points in 27 games. He helped Portland finish eighth in the Western Division. They met the Warriors in the second playoff in a row. Despite Lillard’s great games, they were eliminated in the first round.
On October 28, 2017, Portland defeated the Phoenix Suns, and Damian scored his 9,000th basket. He became the fastest player in the club’s history to do something like that. Then he broke Mychal Thompson’s record of 9,218 points. Great games against the Knicks, Houston and Golden State followed.
The excellent series was briefly stopped by an injury, and he returned to the field on January 12. His 23 points couldn’t prevent a loss to the Pelicans. He ranked seventh among the NBA’s all-time leading scorers. He was named Western Conference Player of the Week for the fourth time in his career and then was included in the West team at the NBA All-Star Game. On February 2, Portland was defeated by Toronto, and Damian became the fastest NBA player to score 10,000 points.
He scored 50 points in just 29 minutes against the Kings. He recorded incredible statistics in meetings with the Warriors, Suns, Thunder and Cavaliers. In 45 matches in a row, he recorded at least one three-pointer. He became the third player in League history to record over 1,500 points and over 400 assists in each of his six seasons.
He broke the franchise record on March 20 when he made a three-pointer in the game against Houston, marking the 52nd game with at least one basket from the three-point line. He ended the season as the fourth-best scorer with an average of 26.9 points per match. In the playoffs, they met with the Pelicans, but they recorded four losses and could not continue the competition.
Lillard was included in the top five of the NBA. After scoring 42 points against the Miami Heat on October 27, 2018, Lillard scored his 11,000th career point. He played great matches against Minnesota, Washington, Clippers, Warriors, and Kings, and on January 14, 2019, he became the first Portland player to score more than 12,000 points.
In 184 consecutive matches, he recorded the same number of double-doubles, breaking Drexler’s record again. On January 24, the Trail Blazers met Phoenix, and Lillard scored his 1,311th point of the season, more than any other player in 50 games. Great games with Oklahoma, New Orleans and the Brooklyn Nets followed, and Lillard continued to break records.
He was again named Western Conference Player of the Week. In April, he became the first Portland player to score over 2,000 points and 500 assists in one season. He also broke the franchise record for the number of three-pointers made.
In the playoffs, they defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, and then continued the fight for the championship title with the Denver Nuggets. After a 3:3 tie in the series, Portland “turned to their advantage”, and finally, after 19 years, they found themselves in the finals of the Western Division.
On November 8, 2019, Lillard scored a then-record 60 points, but that did not help Portland beat the Brooklyn Nets at home. He already surpassed that record on January 20, 2020, in a game against the Golden State Warriors. Damian scored 61 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in that match, and after overtime, his team won with a score of 129:124.
From January 20 to February 1, Lillard averaged 48.8 points in six games. He achieved the first triple-double in his career on January 29, when he helped his team beat the Houston Rockets with 36 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
He was twice named Western Conference Player of the Week. On January 30, Damian was selected for the All-Star match for the fifth time, but could not participate due to a groin injury. Due to the injury, he missed six games and returned to the field for the last four Blazers games before the break caused by the new coronavirus pandemic. In that period, he recorded 20.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, six assists and 1.8 steals per game.
His field goal percentage was a high 40 percent, while his three-point shooting percentage was 41.2 percent. His success from the free throw line was a very high 87.5 percent. After a four-month break, they returned to the field, and their first opponent was the Nuggets.
In that meeting, Lillard recorded 45 points and 12 assists, and his team won 125:115. Three days later, they beat Philadelphia with a score of 124:121, and Damian contributed to that with 51 points and seven assists. On August 11, 2020, Portland defeated the Dallas Mavericks 134:131, and Lillard scored 61 points and eight assists.
It was the third match of the season in which he scored over 60 points and thus equaled Wilt Chamberlain’s historical record. The 2020/21 season record was achieved on January 30, 2021 in his team’s win over the Chicago Bulls. Lillard then recorded 44 baskets.
On February 17, 2021, the Portland star scored 43 points and tied a record 16 assists in a win over the New Orleans Pelicans. He became only one of 12 players in NBA history who recorded 40 goals and 15 assists in a match.
During Game 5 of the first round of the 2021 playoffs against the Nuggets, Lillard scored a career-high 55 points. He made 12 three-pointers and recorded 10 assists. Although he kept Portland alive with a three-pointer, Denver ended up winning 147:140, and took a 3:2 lead in the series. In the sixth meeting, he recorded 29 points and 13 assists, but the Blazers were defeated by Denver with a score of 126:115.
On November 20, 2021, Damian had a season-high 39 points and seven rebounds in his team’s 118-111 win over Philadelphia.
On January 13, 2022, he had surgery for an abdominal injury and was out of play 6–8 weeks. On February 10, Joe Cronin (interim general manager) announced that Lillard would “most likely” not play during the 2021–22 season.
After missing the final 47 games last season due to his injuries, Damian Lillard is back with a bang in 2022-23 season.
Titles and Achievements
- 2009 Named Big Sky Rookie of the Year
- 2010 Named Big Sky Most Valuable Player
- 2010 Named to Big Sky All-Five
- 2012 Named the Third Best Team in America by the AP News Agency
- In 2012 included in the third-best team in America according to the coach’s choice
- In 2012 named the most valuable player of the “Big Sky” tournament
- In 2012 included in the ideal five of the “Big Sky” tournament
- In 2012 participated in the Rising Star tournament
- In 2013 won the NBA skills competition
- In 2013 named Rookie of the Year in the NBA League
- 2013 included in the ideal five rookies in the NBA League
- 2013 participated in the Rising Star tournament
- In 2014 participated in the All-Star Game
- In 2014 included in the third-best team in the NBA League
- In 2014 winner of the NBA skills competition
- In 2015 participated in the All-Star game
- 2018,19 All-Star
- 2020, 21 All-Star
- 2020 All NBA second-best team
- In 2021, participated in the All-Star game
- In 2021, included in the second-best NBA team
- In 2021, named NBA teammate of the year
Discography
- 2016 – The Letter O (Album)
- 2017 – Confirmed (Album)
- 2019 – Big D.O.L.L.A. (Album)
- 2021 – Different On Levels The Lord Allowed (Album)
Damian Lillard Contract
Damian Lillard signed a 4 year / $176.2 million contract with the Portland Trail Blazers, including $176.2 million guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $44 million. In 2022-23, Lillard will earn a base salary of $42.5 million.In 23-24: $45.6 million, 24-25: $48.8 million.
Extension of contract: 25-26: $58.5million, 26-27: $63.3 million (Prediction).
Damian Lillard’s Social Media
Conclusion
So, friends, this was Damian Lillard’s career, and performance details, who made his mark in the NBA team and is back with a bang after injury for the 2022-23 season. If you have any questions related to this article, then definitely tell us by writing in the comment below, and what’s the best thing you like about Damian Lillard. If liked this article, don’t forget to share it on your social media.