Damian Lillard and Russell Westbrook have a long history of on-court beef dating back to January 2018 and Dame recently reflected on some of the moments he’s had with Russ over the years.
Since his formative years in the league, Lillard has been a target of Westbrook’s.
But Dame says his battles with fellow point guard Russ have been some of the best fun he’s ever had on the basketball court.
“Honestly, them was the most fun with Russ. My first 5-6 years, he was the bully,” Lillard said recently on Club 520 podcast . “They was on TV all the time, Russ it didn’t matter if it was a big matchup, if somebody was hurt and he was playing against the backup – he didn’t care. He tried to do it to everybody.”
At first, Dame didn’t take Westbrook’s wrath too personally, but he started to realize that things were personal when Russ would up his game against him during his OKC days.
“I just remember when I was like a rookie or second year, he used to try to give me 50 every time,” Lillard said. “He would be shooting on me so much that KD would be getting mad, like, “Pass the ball!’ He’s shooting every time. Once I realized it was like that, that’s when I started taking it personal. I know he always on go against everybody, but he really try to come get me. That was when it became personal.”
The Blazers did a rebuild around Lillard and that’s when Dame says things really started to heat up.
“I start going back and then I start having the ball more once we did our rebuild,” Lillard said. “He noticed that I was having it more, so I was being more aggressive back at him. That’s when it turned into talking… Every game, it was automatic. I came to the arena knowing it’s on tonight, something happening.”
Despite all their past run in’s, Lillard has no beef with Westbrook once they step off the court.
“He a cool dude, Russ is cool,” Lillard said. “Off the court, we cool. But on the court, he took that approach, and ain’t nobody punking me, I don’t care who you is.”