“He Was Not Friendly At All”: Damian Lillard on Why Kobe Bryant’s Appreciation Was Extra Special

Damian Lillard is a star in the NBA now. But when he was in college, the recruiters did not give him much of a chance. Lillard broke through all the negativity and landed in the NBA as the 6th overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft. In his rookie year, Lillard earned a valuable piece of praise from Kobe Bryant, something that will keep him running till he retires. 

Dame Lillard is the talk of the town at the moment. His NBA bubble performance has earned him the MVP of the seeding games. Besides that, he etched his name into the history books with almost every performance that he put up in the recent games. 

Lillard recently joined the ‘Tea with A & Phee’ podcast where he connected with WNBA stars A’ja Wilson And Napheesa Collier for a chat. The bright WNBA players carried out every question they wanted to ask Lillard in their podcast. 

Moreover, the duo even brought up Kobe’s praise for Lillard during his rookie year. The mamba was so impressed by a rookie Lillard, that he said, “The boy is serious. He’s not afraid of anything.” 

Damian Lillard Reacts to Kobe Bryant praising him for his attitude 

Hey, not many people got genuine praise from Kobe Bryant, did they? The mamba was very serious about his game. When he noticed an athlete with a similar mindset, he would definitely praise them. That is what he saw in a young Damian Lillard. 

“I never feel validated by the stuff that people said,” Lillard began. “When Kobe said that, when I was a rookie, I was hella proud. I was like, ‘Damn.’ Kobe wasn’t friendly like that.”

Lillard then explained that only during the ending stages of his career, Kobe became way more “cool” in terms of working with people.

“In my rookie year, he was not friendly at all,” Lillard continued. “To hear him say that after the game, I was just like, that was one of those moments where I was like, ‘Kobe acknowledged me. It came from Kobe, so I know I’m not trippin’.

When I look back at it now, I’m like, ‘ Damn he really showed major love when I was fresh’.”

The way Dame Lillard goes about his game mirrors the way Kobe used to do it. Kobe definitely saw the towering potential in a rookie Lillard when he watched him play.

Former NBA player Raja Bell also drew perfect connections between Kobe and Lillard and pointed out the “killer mentality” in the two athletes.