Damian Lillard was born July 15, 1990.
Lillard's explosive speed and shooting ability have enabled him to become one of the NBA's elite point guards. He has averaged 20.2 points, 6.1 assists and 3.8 rebounds during his three-year professional career.
Lillard was not heavily recruited out of Oakland High School, only being ranked as the 48th best point guard nationwide in the class of 2008 by ESPN, but he vastly improved throughout his four-year career at Weber State.
As a senior in 2011-12, Lillard averaged of 24.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists, and shot 40.9 percent on three-pointers. He earned third team All-American from AP, and Portland selected him sixth overall in the 2012 NBA draft.
After the Blazers traded Raymond Felton heading to the New York Knicks, Lillard took over as the starting point guard. He became the sixth player to sweep the NBA Rookie of the Month honors in all six months of the regular season since the award was created in 1981, joining David Robinson, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. His season averages of 19.0 points and 6.5 assists led to a unanimous victory in the 2012-13 rookie-of-the-year race.
In his second season, Lillard raised his scoring average to 20.7 points and made his first career NBA All-Star Game. In fact, Lillard became the first player ever to participate in five events at the NBA All-Star Weekend, also playing in the Rising Stars Challenge (formerly known as the Rookie-Sophomore Game), Skills Contest, Three-Point Contest and Dunk Contest.
The 6-3 point guard's efforts led the team to a 54-28 regular-season record, and he raised his game even further in the playoffs, averaging 22.9 points and clinching Portland's first series victory since 2000 with this legendary dagger:
2014-15 was another impressive season with career-best averages of 21.0 points and 4.6 rebounds. Although his Blazers fell in the first round of the playoffs to the Memphis Grizzlies, Lillard still made his second consecutive NBA All-Star Game, and he has started all 246 games the team has played during his career (262 if including the playoffs), becoming the first player since Mike Bibby from 1998-2001 to do so in his first three seasons. In addition, Lillard's total of 599 career three-pointers is an all-time NBA record for any player's first three seasons.
The 2015 offseason was a rough one for Portland, as the team lost all of its 2014-15 starters aside from Lillard in free agency, most notably power forward LaMarcus Aldridge to the San Antonio Spurs. However, the team chose to stick around their star guard, signing him to a five-year contract extension worth approximately $120 million.
Lillard acknowledged the team's rebuilding efforts with a cryptic Twitter post, writing on July 5: "If you're going to lead the orchestra... You have to turn your back to the crowd."
