Damian Lillard recently got on the Knuckleheads podcast alongside hosts Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson. While there, he was asked to speak on how it felt to be in the same room as the NBA’s All-Time Top 75. Admitting he was beyond starstruck, he said the following.
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“I felt so small, bro! As a person, I come from a family and a neighborhood of like, confidence in who I am. Like I stand for something. And when I was like there, in my entire life, I never looked around and felt so, not small in the sense I’m nothing. But just like, Magic [Johnson], Isiah [Thomas], and all these people. It was like a bunch of dudes in there where I’m like, I wasn’t looking at myself as with them”
Lillard has never seemed like the kind of person who would feel daunted by any situation. However, as with everything in the world, perhaps even Lillard has his exceptions.
The former Blazers star then went on to talk about the photoshoots for All-Star weekend. “We all posing, like in All-Star every year. And usually like, when I was younger, it’d be Bron [LeBron James], Kobe [Bryant], Dirk [Nowitzki], Tim Duncan, and Dwight [Howard]. And they would be the ones talking, you know?
However, when he compared it to the NBA 75 photoshoot, Dame couldn’t help but get starstruck. “This time it was like, Magic [Johnson], and Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar], and all these dudes. Like, they the ones in there doing the chatter while taking the pictures,” said Lillard. He continued and elaborated his role during the same and said, “And I’m just there kinda looking around.”
Damian Lillard may or may not have forgotten that he was an NBA superstar himself in those moments. However, it is hard to blame him, considering he was in the same room as all his idols. That kind of thing would likely jostle anyone in the world.
Damian Lillard was staring at Michael Jordan
The NBA’s 75th anniversary was filled to the brim with the sport’s greatest legends, and Michael Jordan was almost inarguably the cream of the crop at the event.
During the same podcast appearence, Lillard revealed what was going through his mind as he stood in close vicinity to Jordan. Admittedly, it is hard not to find it a tad relatable.
“When we get in the hallway, we see MJ [Michael Jordan] walking towards us. He wasn’t even in there for the damn pictures, he just got there. So, he’s walking, and there is more cameras on just him by hisself, than it is for us. And that’s when you really saw the difference of like, ‘Man, this dude the GOAT!’. Like, when he was walking, everybody was just staring at him… He just took over the whole situation.”
Considering how many moments he took over and made his own during his NBA career, perhaps it was only fitting that he did the same for the grand ceremony as well.
