1. You won’t often see an athlete open up in such an introspective and nuanced way like Blazers star Damian Lillard did with JJ Redick on the latest Old Man and the Three podcast.
Lillard, who is in his 11th season, spoke about how the NBA has changed over the years, and not for the better, in his opinion. Specifically, Lillard was referencing “ring culture” and how many people think the only thing that matters in a player’s career is winning a championship.
“The NBA I play in now is not the NBA I came into,” Lillard said to Redick. “I expected it to evolve. Everything is constantly changing. But I feel like I play for the love of the game. I want the competition. I want to know what it feels like to win. I want to see my teammates do well. I want to see my teammates get paid. I enjoy the bonding part of it. We spend more time with each other than anybody. But now that don’t count. Regular season doesn’t count. Get a ring. This guy’s the MVP. This guy did this. What is this?
