Damian Lillard has done so much for the Portland Trail Blazers franchise in the 10 years that he's been with the team. At this point, it's only right that the six-time All-Star also be asked for his own creative input with regard to the direction the team will take from a branding standpoint.
The Blazers went all-in with this after they decided to commission Lillard as the Art Director for the squad's “Statement” jersey for the upcoming season. Dame did not disappoint as he spearheaded a never-before-seen initiative on Portland's new unis (via Casey Holdahl of NBA.com):
“I didn’t want to go too crazy but I wanted it to look different than what we’ve typically had,” said Lillard. “I wanted to do something with the pinwheel on it, we don’t have any uniforms where it’s just the pinwheel. That was something that I knew I wanted to do, so we did that.
“You see the pinwheel all the time. What made me think about it a while back was, I feel like it was a Christmas Day jersey for the Bulls, the team logo was on the center of the jersey and I liked it. So I was like ‘The Blazers never did that before, we should try it.’ That’s where it came from.”
Art Directed by our very own 6x All-Star, @Dame_Lillard, our 2022-23 Statement Edition uniform is inspired by the players' team-first mindset and is designed to make a bold statement on the hardwood.
Be one of the first to pre-order jersey at https://t.co/1s8rQMHXcU pic.twitter.com/F7ztyYDtuK
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) October 1, 2022
For the first time ever, the Blazers' famed pinwheel logo will be applied to their in-game jersey. It's actually quite surprising that the pinwheel hasn't made an appearance on the team uniform in the past, and Damian Lillard made sure that this was no longer going to be the case.
“I think they know that I never want to impose myself, like I’m in charge of everything and I should be a part of everything, but I pay attention,” said Lillard. “I’ve got ideas and that’s pretty much what it comes down to. A lot of these things I’m like ‘How come we don’t do this? How come we don’t do that?’ I’m just kind of asking the question, which lets them know that I have some type of idea or some thoughts about it. They choose to let me be involved.”
In the end, the new jerseys turned out to be great. Lillard has a lot of love for the organization and the city and he just had to make sure this same passion was reflected on their uniforms:
“I’ve been here going on 11 years, there’s a lot that I’ve learned about Oregon and Portland,” said Lillard. “It’s like, you see different things that the community is connected to, stuff that counts. I always want to incorporate that stuff into our uniforms. That’s always on my mind.”
There's a lot to be excited about for the Blazers in 2022-23, and these fire jerseys are just another factor to what should be a very interesting year ahead.
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