When Damian Lillard debuted in the league in 2012, he was touted as one of the best emerging players. He was the sixth overall pick for the Portland Trail Blazers and was immediately put to work by the franchise when the season started. While he was living his lifelong dream of being in the NBA, the late, great Kobe Bryant humbled him during their first meeting.
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During his appearance on Jeff Teague’s Club 520 Podcast, Dame fielded questions about his rookie year in the league, and he reminisced about facing Kobe as a 22-year-old. Having idolized Kobe since childhood, he was thrilled to face him in the matchup. The eight-time All-Star said that before the game started, he was awestruck by being in Kobe’s presence.
In the first five minutes of the game, Dame mentioned that he just stared at Kobe, trying to come to terms with the fact that he was a real person. He further revealed that in his head, he was expecting to at least exchange a few words with the Lakers legend, but that didn’t happen as Kobe overlooked him.
“He wouldn’t pay me no mind. When I got on the court, I’m thinking, he’s going to be like, ‘Welcome to the league’, you know, something like that. He didn’t say sh*t. So, that kinda like put me back in to being a competitor because you’re naturally going to take it a little personally, even if you feel like that’s Kobe.”
Lillard realized that it was no time for him to fanboy over Kobe because, on that court, they were both competitors. But it didn’t take him too long to get noticed by him.
In his rookie year, Dame managed to impress Kobe during a home game and received praise from the legend for being a complete player.
Bryant and Lillard had a lot of mutual respect
Kobe is the favorite player of most of today’s NBA stars. The ones who grew up in his era are fans of the five-time NBA Champion for life. Dame is one of those NBA stars who looked up to him. On 2013.04.10, when the two faced each other, Dame scored 38 points while shooting 12 of 25 from the field and 5 of 11 from the three-point line.
Impressed by the youngster, Kobe said during a post-game interview,
“That boy is serious, man. He’s serious and he’s not afraid of anything. He has a whole package. He’s got the three ball, the mid-range, get over to the rim and we just had to go get him.”
The Lakers won that game 113-106 with the Mamba scoring 47 points while playing 48 minutes of the game. The first Lakers game after Kobe passed away was played against the Blazers and before the game, Lillard had said that despite the heartbreak everyone’s going through, he will go out there and perform on the court to honor Kobe. The former Blazer dropped 48 points in a win against the Lakers and dedicated that win to Kobe.
