The writing was on the wall for Damian Lillard's tenure in Rip City form the moment the Portland Trail Blazers drafted Scoot Henderson.
The Blazers, after all, know full well that putting another small guard next to Lillard isn't a winning recipe, and it's extremely rare for even a prospect of Henderson's esteemed caliber to consistently impact winning as a rookie. Lillard's exit from the Blazers and Henderson taking his place as Portland's franchise point guard was inevitable months before the greatest player in franchise history was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Blazers fans got an early glimpse at the status of that transition on Tuesday night, when Portland opened preseason play with a matchup against the NBL's New Zealand Breakers. Even before Henderson took the floor as his team's starting point guard, though, the Blazers were already making clear the No. 3 overall pick of the 2023 NBA Draft is Lillard's heir apparent.
How? A unique pre-game introduction from the Moda Center public address announcer that pulled from a thread Portland fans have known for over a decade.
“Scoot Henderson jersey number is announced as ‘S-C-Double-O-T.' The successor to ‘The Letter O',” Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report tweeted.
Damian Lillard and Scoot Henderson's unique Blazers introductions
Lillard, of course, has worn 0 as his jersey number from the moment he entered the league in 2012. He chose that number because zero represents the first letter from three seminal stages of his life and basketball career: Growing up in Oakland, California; developing into a lottery pick with Weber State in Ogden, Utah; and being drafted by the Blazers in Portland, Oregon.
Lillard, the PA announcer boomed for years, was “wearing the letter O” for Portland. Henderson is sporting 00 with the Blazers, a playful nod to the nickname given to Sterling Henderson as a baby because of the way he “scooted” across the floor.
Only time will tell if Henderson follows Lillard's footsteps as an all-time great. He got off to a promising start on Tuesday, finishing with seven points and six assists across 19 minutes of play in Portland's blowout victory over New Zealand. Regardless, every time he's introduced at Moda Center going forward, Blazers fans—not that they need a prompt—will be reminded of the big shoes Henderson has been tasked with filling in Rip City.