SI: How’s your relationship with Giannis? DL: We have a good relationship. We talk all the time. [Relationships] take time. You have to go through the process of having a relationship. David Vanterpool, he was our assistant in Portland for a long time. The same went for [Jusuf] Nurk [Nurkić], the same went for CJ [McCollum], it was progressive. We just kind of eventually grew into that and I think the same goes with [Giannis]. But because we are stars and we have to be able to work together and we have to continue to get better at it, everybody’s like, ‘We want y’all to be best friends right now.’ But I think the truth of it is you’re not going to become my best friend in three weeks. It’s going to take some time. Because I want to know who you really are. And when I do something you don’t like, how are you going to respect me and respond to me? And when I’m struggling, how are you going to act? And when I’m blossoming? That’s what friends are, like when you struggling, I know what you really are and what you really capable of and I believe it. That’s how you really develop that type of stuff. -via Sports Illustrated / February 27, 2024
Damian Lillard on life in Milwaukee: It’s lonely here because all my family is in Portland
