PORTLAND, Ore. — Adidas welcomed Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard back home Tuesday with a surprise ceremony, dedicating the basketball court on its North Portland campus to the beloved former Trail Blazers star.
Lillard is in town with his new team for Wednesday's game against the Blazers, his first game in Portland since he was traded to the Bucks last summer. Lillard played the first 11 seasons of his career with the Blazers and is considered by many to be the franchise's all-time greatest player.
Adidas said this is the first time the company has named a location on its campuses after an athlete.
"[It speaks] to the inimitable impact Lillard has had on the brand, sneaker culture, and basketball at large since entering the league in 2012," Adidas said in an email to KGW, adding that the move will ensure "[Lillard] is 'always home' in the city where he planted his roots."
Lillard, speaking during Tuesday's ceremony, said he recognizes what a move like this means.
"What makes this feel the best for me and the thing I appreciate the most, like I said, there's a lot of great athletes that have been with [Adidas], that have had a lot of accomplishments. But I know that something like this is only accomplished by who you are and the impact you have, how you live your life outside of yourself," he said.
"The fact that part of me is being acknowledged on this level is much appreciated. This is definitely a gesture that I'm moved by," Lillard said. "I feel the respect. I feel the love and appreciation for not just what I've been able to do in my career, but how I've been able to handle it as a person."
Lillard then thanked his mother and father for the way they raised him and the example they set.
"All of those things is just me being a product of a certain type of people. So I thank my dad and my mom," he said. "The night that I got drafted, [my dad] told me, 'The most important thing you're going to do is lift other people up.' And that's something that never left me."
Before his rookie season, Lillard signed with Adidas. In April 2014, during his second season in the league, he signed a long-term contract extension that was among the most lucrative endorsement deals in the NBA. Lillard and Adidas came out with his first signature shoe, the D Lillard 1, in early 2015. The two are now on the eighth edition of the "Dame" signature sneaker line and the second edition of the more affordable "Dame Certified" line, which retails at $90, about $40 less than his signature shoe.
Lillard, 33, is averaging 25.1 points, 6.8 assists and 4.3 rebounds in his first season with the Bucks (32-15), who have the fourth best record in the NBA and are in second place in the Eastern Conference, four games behind the Boston Celtics. The Blazers, in their first season of the post-Lillard era, have the fifth-worst record in the NBA at 14-33.
The Bucks and Blazers played a game earlier this season, on Nov. 26, 2023, in Milwaukee. Lillard scored 31 points and the Bucks rallied from a 26-point deficit to beat Portland, 108-102.
Download the KGW News app: Download for iPhone here | Download for Android here
Stream newscasts for free on KGW+ on Roku and Amazon Fire: How to add app to your device here
See a typo in this article? Email web@kgw.com for corrections