Professional basketball player Damian Lillard played for the Portland Trail Blazers. In college basketball, he was a third-team All-American with the Weber State Wildcats, in 2012. Lillard won the NBA Rookie of the Year award after being picked by Portland as the sixth overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft. Along with Clyde Drexler, he is one of only two players in Trail Blazers team history to be selected to five NBA All-Star games.
Although Lillard lacks a championship ring, he is highly regarded. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he and Team USA took home the gold. Additionally, he won the 3-point competition during the NBA All-Star weekend.
Lillard was selected by the NBA as the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year in June 2021. The New York Times recently referred to Lillard’s devotion to Portland as “what makes him great.” Lillard was adored in Portland for more than just his shots, despite being a star on the court and the Blazers’ all-time top scorer.
Lillard was expected to surpass Clyde Drexler, who played for the Blazers for just under twelve seasons before leaving for Houston midway through the 1994–1995 season, as the player with the longest tenure in team history. Lillard will surpass Drexler as the longest-active Blazer if he plays out his entire 12-season contract, which Lillard insisted was not an “if.”
Who is Clyde Drexler, the longest-serving player in Portland Trail Blazers history?
American former professional basketball player and Big3 3-on-3 league commissioner Clyde Drexler was born on June 22, 1962. He played 15 seasons in the NBA, earning the nickname “Clyde the Glide”. Clyde began his career with the Portland Trail Blazers and finished with the Houston Rockets. He was selected to the NBA’s 50th and 75th-anniversary teams, and he was a ten-time All-Star in the NBA.
The Portland Trail Blazers selected highly talented player Drexler in the 1983 NBA Draught. In 17.2 minutes per game on average, he averaged 7.7 points, and in his second season, he got better with greater playing time. After averaging 18.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2.6 steals in his third season, he was selected to his first All-Star squad.
As Drexler led the Blazers to the 1990 NBA Finals, he had averages of 23.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.9 assists. The Blazers defeated the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Finals. In the 1992 NBA Finals, Drexler led the Blazers in scoring, leading all scorers once in Game 3. Drexler retired as the Blazers’ all-time leading scorer with 18,040 points, a mark that remained until Damian Lillard passed him in 2022.