After USA’s total collapse in the World Cup, Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard declares his interest in participating in the upcoming Olympics.
Despite coming to a historically worst 7th place finish in this year’s FIBA World Cup, it shouldn’t take long for Team USA to come back stronger than ever. All signs point towards the Portland Trail Blazers actually having a representative in next year’s Summer Olympics, in the form of Damian Lillard.
When asked about the prospect of playing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Dame gave an emphatic response. “I plan on being a part of that. I plan on playing,” he said in an exclusive interview with popular Australian website news.com.au.
James McKern — the man who conducted the aforementioned interview — was the first to break this news about Lillard’s intentions to chase the Olympic gold medal.
Got the chance to sit down and chat to @Dame_Lillard about the Blazers, getting a gold medal and his music dreams. #NBATwitter @newscomauHQ https://t.co/FuZXA8xtlS pic.twitter.com/k4kPLtz7fr
— James McKern (@jLmcKern) September 17, 2019
In this modern of era of basketball, it’s increasingly rare to see player remain loyal to an organization that hasn’t had the same level of tangible success that they would enjoy themselves, as other teams consistently reach late postseason play. In the interview, Dame also opened up and went in-depth on how it always feels to be perceived as the underdog team and snubbed player.
"“It doesn’t bother me because its always been that way. We come into the season and they say we’re the team that’s not going to make it or they never really consider us one of those teams. But at the end of the season we always are one of those teams… Last year more than any other year was one of those years. We ended up in the WCF. For us it’s not really about what people are saying because we always come and show up. It’s almost better that they’re not expecting it to be us, that under the radar type of coming in and doing what we got to do”"
In this interview, Lillard also discussed how the Portland Trail Blazers’ new additions can make an immediate impact on the team next year, and how his buys offseason making music and filming movies has helped mold his career path. It is certainly worth reading if you’re starving for more basketball insight during the slow burn of offseason news.
Alongside Dame’s announcement, it’s also worth mentioning that Steph Curry has also expressed interest in playing for Team USA in next year’s Olympics. It appears the band is getting back together to reclaim the throne, making this year’s embarrassing World Cup performance just an afterthought in a rich history of dominating international competition.