“6th pick, 6x All-Star and All-NBA, wore number 6 last time with USA basketball”: Damian Lillard outlines why he picked the number 6 to play for Team USA at Tokyo 2020

Damian Lillard chose to wear the number 6 at Tokyo 2020 because he was the 6th pick, is a 6x All-Star and All-NBA player.

Despite the fact that Damian Lillard has been in the league for nearly 10 years now, he’s gotten merely 6 All-Star selections to his name. Make no mistake; this is no miniscule feat as being a multi-time All-Star in the NBA is an achievement all on its own. However, a player of Dame’s caliber deserves to receive more credit than he does. 

After being categorized as one of the most underrated players in the NBA, Damian Lillard has finally been given his flowers by both the fans and media alike. The all-time Blazers great as made the All-NBA team consecutively for 4 years now along with the All-Star team as well.

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Now, he’s one of the leaders for Team USA as they venture out to the Olympics for Tokyo 2020. The Blazers has always chosen to wear the number 0 as he sees it as ‘the Letter O’. ‘O’ is significant to Lillard as it represents Oakland, Oregon, and Ogden; 3 places that he considers to be home. 

Damian Lillard explains why he chose the number 6 instead of 0 for Team USA. 

Damian Lillard has officially revealed that he’ll be number 6 when suiting up for Team USA. The number, surprisingly, holds a lot of sentimental weightage for the Oakland native. He says that he chose that specific number because he was the 6th pick in 2012, is a 6x All-Star and All-NBA player, and wore that same number 6 years ago for Team USA. 

Dame on wearing No. 6: “6th pick, 6x all star, 6x all NBA and 6 years ago was the last time I was with USAB.” https://t.co/kcWIrOlkEJ

— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) July 8, 2021

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A ton of players have chosen numbers when suiting up for Team USA based on some sort of a sentimental value. Most famously, Jayson Tatum felt honored to have been given the opportunity to wear number 10 as it belonged to Team USA legend, Kobe Bryant. 

Training camp for Team USA closes on July 18th and their exhibition games will commence from the 10th of July. Tokyo 2020 will officially start, with no fans in attendance, on the 23rd of July.