‘Represent for my people’: Damian Lillard on carrying Weber State with him, coaching and more
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- From right, Damian Lillard, Lance Allred, Steve Panos and Brody Van Brocklin talk on the bench during the Weber State Basketball Alumni Classic on Saturday, June 17, 2023, in Ogden.
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- Damian Lillard smiles while speaking with members of the media after the Weber State Basketball Alumni Classic on Saturday, June 17, 2023, in Ogden.
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- Two boys smile as they meet Damian Lillard at the Weber State Basketball Alumni Classic on Saturday, June 17, 2023, in Ogden.
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- Damian Lillard speaks to the crowd before the fifth Weber State Basketball Alumni Classic on Saturday, June 17, 2023, in Ogden.
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- Damian Lillard reaches for a pair of shoes to sign for a fan at the Weber State Basketball Alumni Classic on Saturday, June 17, 2023, in Ogden.
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- Damian Lillard, right, gestures after a player made a 3-pointer during the Weber State Basketball Alumni Classic on Saturday, June 17, 2023, in Ogden.
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- Damian Lillard signs autographs at the Weber State Basketball Alumni Classic on Saturday, June 17, 2023, in Ogden.
OGDEN — Damian Lillard comes back to Ogden every year, puts on the Weber State Basketball Alumni Classic every other summer, and he wore a Weber State jersey in the NBA All-Star 3-point contest. These things are not a stunt or an act, he says.
Lillard is intimately self-aware about the things that make him who he is, and a large part of that is Weber State University and the people at the school who helped shape his life — coaches, teammates, teachers and others in the campus community.
Lillard spoke about that and more after the fifth edition of the alumni classic Saturday at the Dee Events Center. Every other summer since 2015, Lillard has joined forces with a couple former players and WSU staff to throw the event that brings back former players and invites fans to come celebrate the history of the program that boasts a top-25 all-time win percentage in Division I.
“Being able to come back to pay my respects to an important place in my journey, cross paths and check in with people who played important roles in my journey — I could go down a list of names that still play important roles here today,” Lillard said. “I don’t acknowledge the names every day but I think all of those people know how much I appreciate them. I try to show my appreciation by staying present with them, answering the phone and coming back and acknowledging people for that reason.
“And just to see the fans come out, to see so many of the guys I played with, guys that came before me … being able to come back and do this again and have it keep getting stronger every year is special and it’s an honor to be a part of it.
“My favorite thing is coming back and seeing the people that I shared my time here with still here. I think a lot of times, people move on. In my career in the NBA, you only get a certain amount of time with people and then it’s time for them to move on, whether that’s them having a better opportunity or life happens. So being able to come back here and not come here to a completely brand-new experience, it makes it special to see so many familiar faces still around. They were here before me and I’ve been gone almost 12 years and for them to still be here, that’s my favorite thing.”
Lillard speaks often about how his experience at Weber State built his foundation for career success, something he reiterated Saturday — especially when it comes to giving effort every day.
“I think we all feel better some days than we feel on other days and when I came here, that’s when I learned to be ‘every day.’ Even when I didn’t feel like it, to make myself do it,” Lillard said. “Being part of this program requires a lot of discipline … I think the way I go about things now, even like some of my younger (Portland) teammates call me ‘unc’ because they think I’m too serious and I’m on point about everything. I don’t mess around. I tell people all the time, that’s a four-year college experience of how things went. So I carry that part of it with me to this day.”
So, in his words, doing alumni games or wearing a Weber State jersey on a big, national stage, is not a “stunt,” it’s an outgrowth of his appreciation for the place and its people who helped him become who he is.
“When I was younger, I was proud to be a Weber State Wildcat and I was proud to come back and feel accomplished, and for people to know the kind of person I was here and to know that I became successful. Now, it’s like I just get older and I want to dive deeper into it. I want people to know the impact of it and I want to show people that it’s not an act,” Lillard said. “I think the longer you’re able to sustain that and the more real you’re able to keep it — like at All-Star Weekend (in Salt Lake City), I didn’t wear the uniform as a prop. Being back here, I didn’t come here and say I’m going to just try to pull a stunt. I was like, ‘I’m going to represent for my people.’
“There’s a lot of people who are still on this campus (from) before I was the Damian Lillard that I am today to everybody else, they treated me the same way. I don’t take that for granted and it’s not lost on me that those people remember when I was on campus with no car, trying to figure it out, getting stipends and just trying to make it. They still took the time. I could have chose any school coming out of high school and I’m almost certain that I wouldn’t have had that same experience. I’m fortunate, I’m grateful to have crossed paths with the people that I did.
“… As time goes by, especially for me, so many things come up. I’ve got to be so many places and do so many things. The more successful you are, the more things you have pulling at you. Some of those things come with great compensation. You’re rewarded for those things, but it’s like you always want to remember why those things are possible. You want to remember the foundation of how these things have been able to take place.”
When his playing days are over, would Lillard’s future of giving back include coming back to Ogden or even staying in the game of basketball as a coach? He says he’s thought about it more as time has gone on, including coaching at his alma mater, specifically.
“I think my experience will be the same. I’ll still pop out here (to Ogden), I will be connected with the program regardless. But I haven’t thought that far.
“When I was a little bit younger I was like, ‘I don’t think I could ever coach.’ But now that I’m getting older and my teammates, like I’ll be 33 next month and my teammates are like 18. I’ve got an 18-year-old teammate. I’m just constantly coaching him, having to tell him to do this, and do that, and do this, and do that — and it doesn’t feel like a burden. I enjoy seeing the growth and knowing that I can pour into him and actually make a difference.
“So I’ve kind of thought more like ‘man, what if I did start coaching? At some point, what if I became a coach?’ I have thought about ‘man, one day what if I came and coached at Weber?’ I would be able to put a real program together; I’d get some five-stars like Deion Sanders at Jackson State. I’d be able to do it. But it’s just a matter of if I really — when the time comes and I’m not having to travel and all that stuff — would I really want to do it?”