Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard played in his fourth All-Star Game last month, so this is something that is becoming a regular occurrence for him.
While Lillard was surely honored to earn yet another All-Star appearance, his favorite part of the weekend was not the game or the fanfare or the fact that he was getting a break from games that count.
It was a text from his father that represented the highlight of his All-Star experience:
“My dad's seen and been around a lot—he never is, like, blown away or emotional,” Lillard said as he recalled the text message from his father, which stated how great of a player he is and how good he is off the court, per Yaron Weitzman of Bleacher Report. “For my dad to say that, that's just crazy. It was the best feeling.”
This is a touching anecdote from one of the best guys in the league.
On the season, Lillard is averaging 26.0 points, 6.4 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals over 35.3 minutes per game while shooting 44.7 percent from the floor, 36.6 percent from 3-point range and 91.1 percent from the free-throw line.
The 28-year-old, who played his collegiate basketball at Weber State, was originally selected by Portland with the sixth overall pick of the 2012 NBA Draft.
Since then, Lillard has become of the most dynamic point guards in the league and has been a model citizen.
Now in his seventh NBA season, the floor general owns career averages of 23.4 points, 6.3 assists, 4.1 rebounds and a steal across 36.3 minutes a night while making 43.4 percent of his field goal attempts, 36.8 percent of his long-distance tries and 88.8 percent of his foul shots.
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