Damian Lillard has signed a four-year, 194-million-U.S.-dollar contract extension with the Portland Trail Blazers, announced Neil Olshey, president of basketball operations of the team on Saturday.
The new deal will take effect from the 2021-22 season and leaves Lillard with a player option in the 2024-25 season.
"Since the day we drafted Damian, he has exemplified every quality an organization could hope for in a franchise player. His perpetual leadership, willingness to embrace responsibility for outcome on the floor and ability to set a cultural standard illustrates what it means to be a Portland Trail Blazer and makes us ecstatic he has chosen to extend his contract at the first opportunity," said Olshey.
Damian Lillard (L) of the Portland Trail Blazers makes the buzzer beater in Game 5 against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2019 NBA playoffs at the Moda Center, April 23, 2019. /VCG Photo
Since being selected by the Trail Blazers with the No.6 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, Lillard has played 549 regular season games in which he dropped an average of 23.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 6.3 assists. He also led the team into the playoffs six times and claimed 24.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.9 assists.
He's one of the three players in NBA history to put down 1,500+points and 400+assists in at least seven seasons. The two others are Oscar Robertson and LeBron James. Having been selected into the 2019 All-NBA Second Team, Lillard matched Clyde Drexler in receiving the All-NBA Team honors four times, the most in the history of Rip City. Last year, Lillard was named 2018 All-NBA First Team, joining Drexler and Bill Walton as the only three players to have received such an honor in the history of the Trail Blazers.
Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers does his signature move of tapping his wrist to tell fans: it's "Lillard time." /VCG Photo
Currently, Lillard is No. 2 in all-time scoring (12,909 points), No.1 in 3-pointers made (1,506), No. 3 in assists (3,479) and field goals made (4,277), No. 2 in free throws made (2,849), No. 5 in playing time on the court (19,907 minutes), No. 9 in steals (533) and No. 10 in games played (549).
"I think we've built something special. It's been built genuinely and in an environment that we've created. It's something that I've been a part of and something that I want to continue to be a part of," said Lillard when talking about players recruiting each other in today's NBA.
One of the things the team and fans love about Lillard is that despite painful failures, he's never sought to jump ship because Portland is his city.