Damian Lillard holds the belief that the NBA has undergone significant changes and is no longer the same as it used to be.
After being drafted sixth overall in 2012, Damian Lillard joined the NBA and has spent over a decade in the league. During this time, he has witnessed significant changes in the NBA landscape. In a recent appearance on J.J. Redick’s podcast “The Old Man and the Three,” the Portland Trail Blazers superstar discussed his thoughts on the current state of the NBA.
Damian Lillard criticizes the NBA
“The biggest difference is you don’t have that veteran presence. You got players who are more talented than ever coming into the league, making more money than those picks ever made; you’re giving them the keys to the franchise. There’s nobody there to really let them know like you’re super talented, but like you gotta earn stuff around here. everything is just given to them from the beginning,” Lillard said.
“They play for stats; they think that they’re LeBron James when they make an All-Star game. The NBA I play in now is not the NBA that I came into. I feel like I play for the love of the game; I want the competition, I want to know what it feels like to win, I want to see my teammates do well, and I enjoyed the bonding part of it. We spend more time with each other than anybody but now it’s like that doesn’t count,” he said.
Damian Lillard expressed his belief that the culture of the NBA has undergone significant and negative changes over the years. The league has lost many of the elements that made it great, such as genuine love for the sport and solid fundamentals, and has instead become focused on inflated contracts and other factors. Other players who entered the league around the same time as Lillard and have experienced the shift over the years share his perspective on this issue.
The situation is concerning
Lillard’s concerns extend beyond the present state of the league and touch on where it will be in the future, particularly in the next five to ten years when he retires. He believes that he is part of a rare breed of players who fell in love with basketball and played for the pure enjoyment of the game. As players like Lillard retire, it is crucial to have individuals like him who remain connected to the sport to preserve its integrity and ensure that the NBA never loses its soul entirely.
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