Damian Lillard: The Motivational Drive Behind His Basketball Career and Fatherhood | NBA News
Damian Lillard recently made the headlines when it was announced that he was indefinitely out of the game due to a deep vein thrombosis. The future of the star athlete playing for the Milwaukee Bucks for this season looks uncertain. We are revisiting a candid interview with SLAM Magazine back in 2024, where the athlete spoke about what motivated him. In an exclusive chat, Lillard shared that his children keep him motivated. We are looking forward to him drawing strength from them as he navigates a difficult time. Damian Lillard draws motivation from being a dad to his three kidsIn an exclusive chat with SLAM Magazine, Dame Time opened up about his connection to basketball and his life beyond the game. He opened up about the relationship he shared with his three kids: Kalii Laheem Lillard, Kali Emma Lee Lillard and Damian Jr. During the interview, he was asked, “We see how much fun you’re having with your kids today. Can you describe the motivation that you get from them?” To this he responded, “I get a lot of motivation from being a dad and from my kids because how I was raised—like, the principles and the values that my parents raised me with—having my own kids, now I got even more pride about those things.”
Damian LillardImage via Getty Images
He further added that he likes his children being a part of his morning workout so that they realise the importance of hard work. He shared, “There are some mornings where I gotta work out at 6:30 and I’ll get my kids up and bring them in here. They might have a tablet or whatever it is so they’re entertained and not getting in the way, but they’ll sit over there while I work out because I want them to be able to see, like, this didn’t just come out of nowhere. You gotta work hard for stuff. You gotta do stuff that you don’t want to do. A lot goes into the life that you guys have. And I want them, from a young age, to understand what it means to work hard for things and sacrifice. I say that to say, they have to see me be the ultimate example of what I preach to them.”Damian Lillard also shared that he wants to lead by example. He told the magazine, “And the motivation comes in where, if I’m being criticized, or if I’m struggling, or if something makes me uncomfortable, I think about my kids when I’m having to respond to those types of situations. I know that, especially with the internet and cameras being everywhere, there’s gonna come a day where my kids will be old enough to understand like, this was happening to my dad or, this was what people were saying about my dad, and there will also be evidence of how I responded to those things. Whatever the situation is, I’ll be the example for my kids and my nephews and nieces, where they’ll be like, He’s not just telling us this, there will be proof of, like, This is who I am. I think that’ll give them a sense of pride, because they’ll see it with their own eyes.”Also Read: Milwaukee Bucks’ Damian Lillard is out indefinitely with a DVT; Is it the same as what happened to Chris Bosh?He concluded the statement by saying that his children motivate him to be a good human being. He said, “It’s not about—if I win a championship, that’d be great. That’s a cherry on top. But how you represent yourself and what you stand on as a human, I think that’s most important. So I get a lot of motivation from the opportunities to show that even when it’s a tough or a bad situation.”
