Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard previously admitted that the Milwaukee Bucks' 2020-21 NBA championship gave him hope that a small market team can win it all. It's one of the reasons why he decided to stay in Rip City despite being constantly linked to a trade to contenders.

Apparently, however, Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo also played a role in his decision to stick with Portland despite all the uncertainties. In his interview with Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Lillard shared how he watched every move of the Greek Freak right after their title win.

“Usually when people win championships and start getting all emotional, I’m always wondering if they’re really moved like that,” the Blazers star explained. ‘Is that real emotions? Does he really feel like that? Because I’ve been in big moments and people would expect me to be emotional and I’m not. So I question the authenticity of how emotional they are in some situations.:

To recall, Giannis Antetokounmpo was really emotional following their title win–with cameras catching him in tears. After all, there were a lot of talks before that he would never win a title with Milwaukee as many people urged him to join a super team instead. The two-time MVP has consistently insisted that he'd rather win with the team he has than bolt and join a super team. He ‘s willing to make a super team in Milwaukee, but leave? It was never in play for him.

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Damian Lillard, for his part, felt that Giannis' emotions are genuine. Watching that moment, Lillard's desire to stay in Portland and grind with the Blazers only strengthened. He knows that the Greece international has been in the same situation as he is now, so a path opened to him showing it's not a dead-end.

“But when I watched Giannis, he was really looking around like, ‘Damn, what if I really left Milwaukee? This was worth it.'So for me, I put myself in his shoes. Sometimes it seems like this is impossible and it’s never going to happen, and I’m sure he was there before, too,” Lillard added.

“If I was to get that championship for Portland, I would cry, bruh. Bruh, on the spot. I would really cry, bro. I want to win a championship here. And because of how strongly I feel about that, I don’t know how rewarding it would feel for me at this point if I won somewhere else. Winning it here would be a lifetime achievement for me.”

It remains to be seen if Damian Lillard can follow in the footsteps of Giannis Antetokounmpo and bring the same success to the Blazers. However, there is no doubt he is more motivated than ever to prove himself and show everyone that it's not always the super teams that win.

Giannis did it with Milwaukee, and Lillard is surely more than capable of doing it with Portland. Nonetheless, it won't be easy and it takes time more often than not–just like how Dirk Nowitzki did it with the Dallas Mavericks back in 2011.