Portland Trail Blazers: What’s at stake for Damian Lillard at the Olympics?

Portland Trail Blazers All-NBA star guard and NBA teammate of the year 2021 Damian Lillard was named to Team USA and will be heading to the Olympics for the first time. Alongside Steve Smith (2000) and Clyde Drexler (1992), Lillard would be the third Portland Trail Blazers player and the only active Blazers to play for the US national team in the Olympics.

Lillard has a strange history with the US national team. He was finalists in both the 2014 US national team and 2016 US Olympics team but didn’t make it to the final team roster. When Lillard was a last-second cut from the US team roster in 2014, he stated the snub would further fuel his then-budding basketball career.

“More wood on the fire“, Lillard remarked in the summer of 2014.

But the strangest happened when he was in the consideration pool for the 2019 USA World Cup, but he pulled out from the training camp at the last moment. Why he avoided international duty in 2019 but now joining the national team? Is it because he repeatedly lost in NBA playoffs, not won any championships, and wanted to win at least something? Or, is it because Pop being the national coach who is widely regarded as one of the greatest coaches of NBA history and won five NBA championships with San Antonio as a coach? There is no doubt that Pop has played a significant role in the decision of Lillard to play for the Olympics.

"“I have a lot of respect for Pop as a coach and as a person. I look forward to playing for him, taking in his basketball knowledge and seeing what our team can do.“, Lillard said."

But Pop has been the coach of the USA national team during the 2019 world cup too. Then, why did Lillard pull out from the 2019 World cup team?

It is rather apparent that the elite players have regularly missed the international responsibilities for preparing for the NBA season. The same has been the case for Lillard too in 2019. Then, why did he join this year’s national team? Does he want to prove his worthiness as a player by winning at the Olympics to boost his trade value?

Or is he too frustrated with the supporting cast of Blazers and wants to play with the best teammates, at least in an international tournament? It has been evident that when there are good players around Lillard, he can be devastating, as seen repeatedly in the NBA All-Star games. However, the NBA All-Star game can not be compared with the Olympics; still, this Olympics looks like a solid opportunity for Lillard’s 3-point shooting display.

As after settling for the Bronze medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics, the United States is attempting to win a fourth gold medal in a row. Hence, the addition of Lillard to the team would be indeed a big plus for the US national team. Lillard has averaged 28.8 PPG this season, making him one of just two players in the NBA history apart from LeBron James to score at least 25 PPG in each of the previous six seasons.

He claimed his ambition to compete for the Olympic squad stems from witnessing the “Redeem Team” winning gold in Beijing in 2008.