If you watched NBA All-Star weekend there’s a chance you caught the induction ceremony for the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team. Most of the players listed were right out of central casting; Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Lebron James, Bill Russell and even Russell Westbrook made the cut (not surprising considering the MVP’s and triple-double average back in 2015). But there was one name on the list that caught national attention. That was Damian Lillard.
The legendary Trail Blazer has not won an NBA Title, league MVP or scoring title. He hasn’t even achieved All-Star status. But there is one stat that paints a grand picture of Dame’s dominance in the NBA:
He is among a group of four players who have scored 16,000+ points and netted 4,000+ assists in the first 9 seasons of their career. The other players? Lebron James, Larry Bird and Oscar Robertson. That’s pretty good company to keep. Given, Dame is the only player on this list without a title. But there’s also the intangible clutch gene to be considered.
The guy is a machine when it comes to hitting game winning shots. Each great NBA player has possibly a handful of moments that are attributed to their career as calling cards. Damian Lillard produces those moments in letter stock. It’s almost as if we forget his clutch-gene as an indicator of his greatness.
Say what you will, but Lillard was part of shaping the revolution of ball dominant guards that have come to define this era of basketball. For that, he deserves recognition.