Sometimes you marry for love, and sometimes you marry for convenience. The marriage between Damian Lillard and the Milwaukee Bucks always felt like the latter. It was nothing but an opportunity for Dame to chase a ring alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo after years of carrying the Portland Trail Blazers.
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After Dame tore his Achilles in the playoffs, his relationship with the Bucks ended abruptly when they shockingly waived him to make room to sign Myles Turner.
Suddenly free game, Dame reportedly received contract offers from the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves. But he opted to return on a three-year, $42 million deal to the place where he spent the first 11 years of his career.
Things worked out in the end for Lillard, because now he’s going home to a place that he loves and that has always loved him. There is a bonus too: Dame’s kids are ecstatic as well.
On Monday, Lillard had his re-introductory press conference in Portland. While speaking to the assembled media, Dame received a question from Lindsay Schnell of The Athletic that prompted a heartwarming response. “Can you tell us how you told your kids that you were coming home, and what their reaction is?” she asked.
Dame has three kids, son Damian Jr. who is 7 and twins Kalii and Kali who are 4. He said that he waited to tell them the news until everything was official. “I didn’t say nothing to ’em about it until Saturday when I actually signed,” he said.
“They were with me, and we got back in the car to go home, and I got to a red light, and I just turned around, and my daughter was looking at me, and I told her,” added Lillard. “She was like, ‘Wait, so we don’t have to get on the airplane to Milwaukee no more?'”
Needless to say, all three Lillard kids were “extremely excited” to have their dad back home. They all still live in Portland with their mom, Lillard’s ex-wife Kay’La Hanson, and now they’ll be able to see their dad without hopping on a plane to do so.
The Blazers are a team on the rise, finishing the 2024-25 season strong. But Lillard’s decision to return to Portland seems to be more about his kids and his love for the city and the fans than it is purely a basketball move.
It is easy to forget about the human side of pro athletes, since most people only see them with a jersey on or hear about them signing multimillion-dollar contracts. Lillard’s homecoming is proof that, even for these highly paid athletes, there’s more to life than a paycheck.
Dame will spend the next year rehabbing his injured Achilles while also getting to spend time with his kids. After that, the Blazers should be ready to contend, especially if he can recapture his old form.
