Quite a few people view Damian Lillard as the best-ever player in the history of the Portland Trail Blazers. Perhaps rightfully so, considering Dame went at 24.9 points, 7.1 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game over an 11-year stretch that included multiple playoff runs, most prominently a Western Conference Final appearance back in 2019.

And while things did not go the best after the Milwaukee Bucks trade, Dame is now back in Portland, much to the delight of the city. A series of clips shows him greeting thousands of fans, with one of them showing him waiting patiently for the noise to subside. When it eventually did, Dame explained that he was finally home, much to the delight of the gathered fans.

“Around the same time, it started registering to me like, this is really happening. Then I would say about a week ago, that would be about the time when I usually would pick up and leave. Then I was like, I have nowhere to go, I am home. That was how it crossed my mind,” he said.

The Trail Blazers’ official account also posted multiple clips from the event. One of them, shot from a drone, shows the sheer magnitude and the excitement of the gathered crowd.

“All eyes on Dame,” the caption said.

Another post, which featured four pictures from the event, showed fans of all ages holding up signs that read “Welcome Home Dame.”

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“The city showed up, the culture showed out 🤞,” the post was captioned.

Another picture confirmed precisely what Dame was talking about and thanking the crowd for.

“The love never changed ❤️,” it said.

Lillard returns to the Trail Blazers after two difficult seasons with the Bucks. He suffered a torn left Achilles tendon during Game 4 of the first-round series between the Bucks and the Indiana Pacers.

That brought an end to his campaign after he had suffered from Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), which led to him missing the final 14 games of the regular season. While Lillard is expected to miss the entirety of the upcoming season, the fans and the organization seem delighted to have him back.