Damian Lillard pulled into Oakland High School, and all the memories came rushing back. There was the pool, where he took swimming as his last class of the day as a senior. The theater, where he would go to get out of class whenever an event was happening. The path he would walk to get to lunch.
He was just a regular student back then, part of the Class of 2008. And he’s never forgotten where he started.
“I was a regular kid,” Lillard said, standing by one of the walls inside Oakland High, with a trophy case nearby. “They knew I was good at basketball, but none of this was expected. So, when I think about it, I always remind myself of how important the journey is. Everyone looks at where I am now, but when I think about the moments in the journey, that’s what gives me chills sometimes about how it all happened.”
Lillard is back home this weekend, the star guard for the Milwaukee Bucks returning to the Bay Area as an NBA All-Star with events in both his hometown of Oakland and in San Francisco. He’ll compete for his third straight 3-point contest win on Saturday, then play in the All-Star Game on Sunday — his ninth time being selected for the league’s midseason showcase.
He was a two-star recruit out of high school and had to work hard for everything he achieved, first in college at Weber State (where he became an All-American) and then in the NBA (getting drafted No. 6 overall by Portland in 2012). He’s an All-NBA player and an Olympic gold medalist.
His journey wasn’t easy. And on Thursday, he returned to Oakland High to make the path a little easier for current students there.
Lillard began his All-Star weekend with a visit to his old school to introduce The Damian Lillard Scholars program. He’s helping to provide $25,000 scholarships to students at nine East Bay high schools to assist with out-of-state tuition if they choose to attend Portland State, where his NBA career started with the Trail Blazers.
“Him providing this opportunity … it means a lot,” said Oakland High senior Princess Momoh-Danga, who has applied to Portland State.
Lillard made the lead donation for the program, which will also offer extra financial support for things like food, housing, clothing, textbooks, and transportation to the scholarship recipients. Some of Lillard’s supporters from Portland have contributed as well.
“We could not be more proud to offer this scholarship to East Bay students while working with one of Portland’s most exciting and inspiring civic leaders,” Portland State President Ann Cudd said. “Damian Lillard has shown so much love for the city of Portland that PSU counts him as one of our own. We are excited to partner with him to create opportunities for PSU education for students from his hometown.”
So far, 27 students — including six from Oakland High — who are eligible for the Damian Lillard Scholars program have applied to Portland State, with 15 already accepted.
Portland State was a Big Sky Conference rival of Lillard’s when he played at Weber State, but he has strong ties to the school because his sister graduated from there and because of his connection to Portland.
Damian Lillard and Steph Curry in the 1st halfLillard wanted to have an actual impact
Committing $25,000 scholarships is a significant effort.
“Being able to actually help and actually support instead of just doing something small and saying, ‘Oh, look, I did something,’ you know, if I’m going to do it, I want to do it in a way that I know it’s going to make a real impact and lift people up and truly inspire them,” Lillard said. “I think that’s what this is.”
Returning home to the Bay is always a big deal for Lillard.
He’s averaged 25.9 points in his 18 NBA regular-season games at Golden State — both in Oakland and San Francisco; among visiting players with at least 18 games played in either the Warriors’ current home at Chase Center or its former home, Oracle Arena, only Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James have averaged more. Lillard has made 64 three-pointers in those games when he comes back to the Bay; only James Harden has more as a visitor.
“It means everything to be home,” Lillard said. “Making it to where I made it in my career and in my life and being able to come back home and see familiar faces and see all of the things that make me who I am … it’s always a great experience when I get to come back home.”
