Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers took on the Los Angeles Clippers in the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle for their preseason opener. And as expected, the raucous Seattle crowd made itself felt very quickly. Chants of “SuperSonics” reverberated throughout the arena, as fans clearly miss the franchise that was surprisingly relocated to Oklahoma City back in 2008.
And Lillard himself knows just how much an NBA team means to Seattle, especially after he's played in the Pacific Northwest for the entirety of his career.
Speaking with reporters after the game, Damian Lillard expressed his support for the Seattle SuperSonics franchise to make its long overdue comeback.
“When a crowd comes out like that for a game where neither team is a Seattle team and brings that type of energy, you can't help but think they need a team here. They definitely need a team here,” Lillard said, per ESPN's Kevin Pelton.
Damian Lillard on the crowd for tonight's preseason game at Climate Pledge Arena: "When a crowd comes out like that for a game where neither team is a Seattle team and brings that type of energy, you can't help but think they need a team here. They definitely need a team here."
— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) October 4, 2022
The 32-year old Blazers franchise point guard has a point, as the Climate Pledge Arena was packed with an attendance of 18,440 people out of a capacity of 18,100. The Blazers might have lost the game to the Clippers, 102-97, in Kawhi Leonard's much-awaited return from an ACL injury, but it's great to see Lillard understand the meaning of their preseason game in the grand scheme of things for Supersonics fans.
This is not the first time that Damian Lillard showed love to the city of Seattle, and Seattle fans will be grateful for what he's done to the Oklahoma City Thunder franchise, especially in 2019. It was Dame who scored 50 points and drained an insane half-court game-winning buzzer beater right in the face of then Thunder-star Paul George back in 2019, which he then proceeded to dedicate to Seattle.
Dame also shared that he grew up revering fellow Oakland-based guard Gary Payton, who is most known for his stint with the Sonics, the team he led to the NBA Finals back in 1996.
There were rumors earlier in the offseason that the NBA was set to announce its expansion plans in Seattle and Las Vegas during preseason. This was supposed to bring the number of teams in the league to 32. However, these rumors were quickly shot down, and again, Seattle fans will have to wait a little bit longer for their much-beloved team to come back into existence.
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