Damian Lillard on All-Star Voting Results: 'I Honestly Wasn't Surprised'
Damian Lillard has long known what it's like to be overlooked.
He transferred from Jason Kidd's prep alma mater in Oakland midway through high school due to a lack of playing time. He graduated Oakland High School as a two-time First Team All-League selection, but remained lightly recruited. He played four years at Weber State despite winning Big Sky Player of the Year in two of his three healthy seasons, and was taken behind the likes of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Dion Waiters and Thomas Robinson in the 2012 draft.
Then in the NBA, not even a standout Rookie of the Year campaign that portended future stardom would keep Lillard from being neglected and forgotten by the masses.
He missed out on the All-Star game back-to-back in 2016 and 2017, falling victim to a numbers game that annually plagues a couple deserving players from the Western Conference. When the Trail Blazers were swept out of the first round of the playoffs in 2018, most assumed Lillard had already reached his peak, and taken his team as far as it was likely to go.
Obviously, Lillard has long outdone expectations to an extent not even his biggest supporters always could always see coming. But perhaps due to his decades-long track record of flying under the radar, what Lillard saw coming on Thursday – despite not having access to cable at his house, apparently – was missing out on being named an All-Star starter for the first time in his career.
Luka Doncic ultimately won out over Lillard to be the West's second backcourt starter alongside Steph Curry. Further rankling many Blazers fans was the justification behind the Mavericks' young superstar being chosen ahead of Lillard.
Though Lillard was ahead in both player and media voting, Doncic outdid him in the fan vote. Those results prompted a "tiebreaker" between them because of the league's decision – weeks ago, it's worth mentioning to conspiracy theorists – to place extra weight on fan voting.
After the starters were announced, peers like Kevin Love and Al Horford expressed their belief that Lillard had earned a starting spot. Terry Stotts made his thoughts clear, as well.
Lillard has long used perceived slights as extra motivation, but is clearly at a point in his career when he doesn't need superficial validation like starting in the All-Star game. As Stotts suggested, Lillard is no doubt taking some solace from the player vote ranking him a strong second behind Curry among guards in the West.
But just because he doesn't care and wasn't surprised about the All-Star results, don't expect Lillard to forget them altogether. After year after year of proving people wrong, it's fair to surmise he's simply gotten used to having to do it over again.