How Damian Lillard Played Lead Recruiter for Team USA
There was a time in Damian Lillard's career when he was so fed up with USA Basketball it seemed he might never take the floor in international competition.
A few years later, the Trail Blazers superstar isn't just one of the biggest names poised to suit up for Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics, but even played de facto lead recruiter for an American side reeling from a dispiriting seventh-place finish at the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
"When we talk to players about committing to the team, one of the things they always want to know is who else is committed," USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo said, per ESPN's Brian Windhorst. "Lillard was one of the first and it was crucial."
Word of Lillard's pledge to Team USA broke on June 15, just over a week before the 12-man roster for Tokyo was finalized.
According to ESPN, Lillard had actually known for months he would play in the Olympics. As spring turned to summer and the playoffs commenced, he and Kevin Durant joined Colangelo and Team USA coach Gregg Popovich on a de facto recruiting tour of the league's American-born stars.
Personal encouragement from Lillard led to Draymond Green, Bradley Beal and Jayson Tatum signing on for the Olympics. Tatum, a marquee member of that disappointing 2019 World Cup squad, only committed to playing for Team USA again after this cycle's objectively superior roster had begun taking shape, per ESPN.
Lillard's influence loomed just as large for one of the Americans' final roster spots. It was he and Durant whose lobbying ultimately led Popovich to extend an invitation to Jerami Grant, according to ESPN.
Lillard's renewed zeal for USA Basketball reportedly stems from Popovich replacing Mike Krzyzewski—who'd led Lillard to believe he'd earned a spot on the 2014 team before cutting him—on the sidelines.
"Pop matters," a USA Basketball source told ESPN. "Guys really want to play for him."
Also to no one's surprise? Guys really want to play with Lillard.