Damian Lillard, one of the best NBA players and also one of the most mature and interesting to hear about, gave a wonderful interview to JJ Redick explaining how much in his opinion basketball has changed – for the worse – and how the debate around the NBA has emptied everything of the ultimate meaning of sport: play for the love of basketball and compete together with your teammates against a common opponent. “The NBA has changed profoundly since I arrived: I expected things to evolve, everything is constantly changing, but I feel that something is off. I take to the field because I love this game, I want to compete, I want to feel the emotion of victory, I want to see my teammates find satisfaction and the right recognition: I like sharing emotions with the team, the group with which I spend most of the time. Today, however, it’s all: “The regular season doesn’t count!”, “Win a ring and then you talk!”, “This is an MVP and you’re not!”. I say: calm down, what is this?”.
Salvation for Damian Lillard is to “have a normal life”
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Continuing with examples of personal experiences – some have asked him in recent weeks: “When do you win an NBA title?” – Lillard then came to the crux of the matter: “While I understand the logic and I am well aware of the importance of playing to win titles – all of us who take the field aim to win the ring – however, we cannot continue to behave and act as if it no longer matters, as if the rest of the things, as if the journey didn’t matter. We cannot afford to do this: there are so many ways to interpret one’s experience in the NBA, I often think about it and I honestly don’t know if I will still be able to play for a long time because I don’t enjoy everything the NBA is becoming”. In reflection then, as also underlined by JJ Redick, what impresses is often Lillard’s ability to estrange himself from all the noise and the chaos that is generated around him: “What makes the difference is real life: I don’t approach what happens to me in everyday life thinking I am “Damian Lillard”. No, I go home and play with my children, I go to see my mother, I hang out with my family: I spend the evenings on the phone with relatives talking about ordinary, ordinary things. I have a stable life, which is not defined by who I am as an NBA player: I have real friends, people who lead a normal life. I don’t spend my days in front of the TV trying to figure out what to do to thank my critics or improve my image”.