While it probably doesn’t qualify as history, something which has never happened before will take place Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee.
For the first time in his 11 NBA season, Damian Lillard will face of against the Trail Blazers rather than suiting up for the team that drafted him with the sixth overall pick of the 2012 NBA Draft. Now with the Milwaukee Bucks after requesting a trade prior to the start of the 2022-24 season, Lillard won’t play against many former teammates -- Anfernee Simons is the only player on the Trail Blazers’ roster who played more than one season with Lillard, and he won’t be in uniform Sunday due to injury -- when Portland starts a four-game trip versus the Bucks, but he’s played 783 games in his NBA career and not one of those has been the Trail Blazers. That’s rather uncommon in the modern NBA.
Of course, Lillard’s first return to Moda Center on January 31, 2024 will be much more of an event than Sunday’s tilt at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, but it’s one thing to see a former player suit up for another team and it’s another to see that player line up against his former team.
So here’s what head coach Chauncey Billups, who led the team during Lillard last two seasons in Portland, Jerami Grant, who was brought to Portland, in large part, due to his relationship with Lillard, and Anfernee Simons, who was mentored by Lillard during his first five seasons with the Trail Blazers, had to say about Portland playing their first game against the 6-3 point guard in his 12th season out of Weber State
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS
"It’ll be fun man, fun to see him. I think I’ve watched probably two or three of their games so far. Just going to be fun to have him out there, obviously it’ll be weird man, to be playing against Dame. It’s just weird game planning against him having coached him for a few year. Pretty sure for most of our guys, it’ll be weird for them, too but it’ll be fun. I’m looking forward to it. it’ll be a good time."
"It will probably be more (of an event) when he’s here, I would guess, but yeah, he’ll be up for it. He’s can control his emotions better than most people do. I’m sure he’ll want to play very well and do good and show well, so I’m sure he’ll be pumped up. It’s his first time in his whole career having this type of situation."
JERAMI GRANT
"It should be a good one. We know the type of team that they have, championship-caliber team, so we’ve got to come out ready to play. Definitely going to be a lot of emotions for the organization, obviously, playing against Dame and everything but we’ve got to come out and do what we need to to try and get the win."
"It’s still good. "He wants to win, he’s a winner, so he brought me here to try to win. I’ll always respect that, still got a good friendship, so yeah… Still friends but at the same time, at the end of the day we’ve got to come out and try to get the win. We’ll talk a little bit before the game, little after the game but during t he game we’ve got to lock in."
ANFERNEE SIMONS
"It’ll probably be different, for sure, when I play against him for the first time. I watch enough Milwaukee games to get used to him being in a Bucks uniform. Every chance I’ll watch Bucks games, catch the Bucks games, see what they up to. The only thing that will feel different is when I actually play against him for the first time. I’d say that will be the craziest part."