Blazers PG Damian Lillard Reacts to Bam Adebayo's 83-Point Game

Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard is among the millions of basketball fans geeking about Bam Adebayo's historic 83-point performance.

The game took place on the east coast at the Kaseya Center, where the Miami Heat dismantled the Washington Wizards, giving Lillard time to talk about the performance from his Tokyo Olympics teammate on the Blazers broadcast against the Charlotte Hornets on Rip City Sports Network.

"Bam was like, ‘Man, I’m trying to average 30. And at the time I literally said to him, ‘You think you’re like a 30-point-per-game scorer like that?’ And he was like, ‘What you mean?’ And I was like, ‘I’ve never seen you score to where you’re going to get 30 a game,'" Lillard said on the broadcast.

Lillard Gives Adebayo Flowers After 83-Point Showing

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo greets Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard. | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

When Lillard was requesting a trade from the Blazers back in 2023, the destination he supposedly preferred was the Miami Heat, who were led by Adebayo and Jimmy Butler at the time. Butler was traded last year to the Golden State Warriors, forcing Adebayo into a larger leadership role this season.

Adebayo has Tyler Herro and former Blazers guard Norman Powell to help him out, but neither were on the court against the Washington Wizards, giving the All-Star center a chance to shine.

Adebayo cemented his legacy as one of the best players in the league with his 83-point showing and Lillard and the rest of the league are certainly giving him the respect and praise he deserves.

Lillard had an opportunity to challenge Kobe Bryant's 81, which he achieved in 2006 with the Los Angeles Lakers against the Toronto Raptors, but he came up 10 points shy when he dropped 71 points against the Houston Rockets on Feb. 26, 2023 inside the Moda Center.

Since Lillard's breakout game back in February 2023, Luka Doncic did two better than Lillard when he had 73 in a win against the Atlanta Hawks on the road. Now, Adebayo has wedged himself in between Kobe and Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game as the best single-game scoring performance in NBA history.

Lillard still has time to one-up Adebayo, but if it happens, it won't be until next season as the All-Star guard is recovering from a torn Achilles he suffered during last year's playoffs when he was out with the Bucks.

In the meantime, the Blazers are facing off against the Utah Jazz on Friday at 7 p.m. PT inside the Moda Center.