Damian Lillard was ready to square up with Jordan Poole after the Warriors youngster began to talk trash to him.
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Damian Lillard has established himself as one of the best leaders in North American sports today. Despite the Portland Trailblazers having been to the Western Conference Finals merely once in his stay over at PDX, the 2012 draftee has conducted himself with honor, paving the way for superstars to continue to remain loyal to teams that believed in them.
Of course, that loyalty has paid off as Dame recently signed a 2 year/ $122 million contract extension that would keep him in Portland till the summer of 2027, further adding to his reported net worth of $100 million.
During his decade long stay in the NBA, Damian Lillard has let it be known that he’s more than happy to tell his game do all the talking. His rivalry with Russell Westbrook was as bombastic as it was due to fans being quite surprised at how chatty Lillard had suddenly become.
In several interviews, Dame has reiterated that he doesn’t wish to talk trash with anybody but would gladly do so if he were to be instigated. This is exactly what happened with a young Jordan Poole who got a bit too ahead of himself two years ago.
Jordan Poole lit a fire within Damian Lillard.
The 2019-20 season was quite the unorthodox one given the whole Orlando Bubble situation. The Golden State Warriors accepted their destiny as a tanking team that season right after Steph Curry went down with a broken left hand a couple games into the season. Due to this, younger guys like Damion Lee and Jordan Poole were getting heavier backcourt minutes.
In a game between the Warriors and the Blazers that season, Poole showed one of many flashes of what was to come from his side on the offensive end of the floor. While on the ‘Colin Cowherd podcast’, Dame talked about how Poole started to talk trash to him after hitting a 3 right over him (the clip below is most likely what he’s referring to).
Lillard goes on to say that he doesn’t talk sh*t but was getting annoyed by Poole’s antics as they worsened towards the end of the game while he was at the free throw. “My natural instinct was like, bro I train in combat. I’m from Oakland, that’s my natural instinct,” said Damian Lillard about how he was feeling towards Jordan.
A couple months go by and the Blazers play the depleted Warriors on MLK day. Jordan Poole continues to berate Dame from the jump, picking up where he left off in November. The eventual 2022 champ would learn a valuable lesson that day as the Weber State alum dropped 61 points, hitting 11 threes and setting the single game scoring record for MLK day.
