There are many different paths athletes can take on their quest to become professional at their sport of choice. The myriad of different developmental routes makes sports interesting because different players create various scenarios.
Damian Lillard is a superstar in the NBA now, but his path to the league certainly wasn’t easy. And as he recently revealed, growing up in the rough-and-tough streets of Oakland, California, helped motivate the star Milwaukee Bucks guard in his quest to make it to the league.
Lillard reveals how Oakland helped him pursue his basketball dreams
Growing up in Oakland wasn’t necessarily easy for Lillard, as he was exposed to a lot at a young age. Whether it was drugs, violence, or a plethora of other bad things to get into, there were a lot of traps that he could have fallen victim to.
Instead, Lillard put his head down and worked at perfecting his skills on the basketball court. As he recently revealed, he realized at a young age that he would have to stay away from those things if he wanted to make it to the NBA.
“That’s the foundation of who I am,” Damian Lillard said on Long Game . “I learned a lot just from the environments that I was in. Everybody doesn’t get that same type of upbringing and that same type of culture, growing up in a neighborhood where you gotta grow up faster than most people. I was catching the bus with my older brother from first grade, second grade, public transportation, and being around people smoking and just doing s***, I was around so many different things and not sheltered from it.”
“And that’s like the humble beginnings that I come from, where it wasn’t just one or two, ‘Should I be doing this or should I not be doing this?’ It was everyday on the bus. I’m around people that’s 12 and 13 that’s having pistols, and put in a position where I had to make decisions, knowing right from wrong and learning how to have somebody’s back, knowing what it means to have a strong family and caring for people, being compassionate, being unselfish, sharing, all these things,” Lillard continued.
“That makes it easier for me to turn 21 and get drafted and make millions of dollars, and because of my upbringing, my lens on a lot of things is the way it is,” Lillard finished.
Lillard overcame quite a few hardships to make it to the NBA
While it may seem easy on paper to choose between right and wrong, it’s typically a tough choice, especially when you are growing up in a tough environment. There were countless instances where Lillard could have veered off his course, but he never did.
In some cases, these sorts of situations prevent young athletes from reaching their full potential, but Dame doesn’t see it that way. In fact, he thinks being exposed to this lifestyle helped him reach the NBA and helped him adapt to the challenges he faced once he made it.
You can’t exactly argue with Lillard’s logic because he’s been one of the game’s best players since he entered the league. With eight All-Star berths and seven All-NBA selections, it’s safe to say Dame’s place in the history of the NBA is already secure.
Sometimes, it takes challenging situations to bring out the best in people, and the environment Lillard found himself in at a young age motivated him to pursue bigger things. And given what he’s accomplished so far in the league, it’s safe to say it’s worked out pretty well for him so far.
Related: Damian Lillard says he looked up to Allen Iverson growing up: "He reminded me of somebody from my neighborhood"
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