Damian Lillard Opens Up About Challenging First Season With Bucks

Damian Lillard has opened up about his experience in Milwaukee, after undergoing a whole mess of changes in his NBA and personal life.

Lillard spent the first 11 seasons of his NBA career in Portland. The team rebuilt around him in his prime, but he never managed to win a championship there.

In October of 2023, Lillard was traded to the Bucks in a blockbuster three-team trade.

The Bucks instantly became championship favorites with Dame and Giannis Antetokounmpo on the same team.

However, things didn’t exactly go to plan for the Bucks in 2023-24, after the team underwent yet another coaching change and Dame and Giannis were both battling injuries during the playoffs.

Lillard recently spoke honestly about the trials and tribulations.

“It was a harder transition than I thought for real like just like I said because of my life [moving cities, going through a divorce] but then also like adjusting to playing with another great player [Antetokounmpo] and then also playing with Khris,” said on the Club 520 podcast. Khris is a great player too but he plays a certain way too, so I’m having to get used to playing with two players and I don’t want to stop them from doing what they do, but I got to find how to be the best version of me within this too, so it was just a lot it, was a lot of moving parts, it was more difficult than I thought it would would be.”

Looking at his career as a whole, Lillard went on to explain how he believes he doesn’t get enough credit for what he’s done.

“They definitely don’t talk about it,” Lillard said. “They act like I don’t be doing what I’ve been doing. This is going to be my 13th season… My time in the league, when I think about how many people have been very good over that time, it ain’t been that many people that have been here the whole time, since I’ve been in the league, that just been doing it, like over and over and over. But I think people just get bored with consistency. And I ain’t loud, but I’ve been doing it that long and winning.”

He’s an eight-time All-Star, seven-time All-NBA selection (1x first team, 4x second team, 2x third team) and was selected to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team, but is yet to win that elusive championship ring.