Damian Lillard feels lonely in Milwaukee: 'I don't have much of a life' / News - Basketnews.com

Lillard admits he missed his family and friends who remained in Portland after he moved to Milwaukee. The star player claimed the life gets very lonely at times due to him being a family man, but he has to deal with the decision he made last summer.

Credit: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images North America/Getty Images via AFP - Scanpix Credit Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images North America/Getty Images via AFP - Scanpix

After 11 seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, star guard Damian Lillard was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. Following the move, the player says it's been very tough, especially mentally.

2-pointers this season

58%29,9Points made:29,9Accuracy:58,2%Place in standings:13Record max:44Record min:15Most made 2FGs:Giannis AntetokounmpoTeamNBAStatisticsSchedule

Namely, the guard admits missing his family, his kids, and his friends, who were all nearby him when he played in Portland.

"Being away from my kids is tough. In Portland, my life was set up. My mom was down the street; my brother was the other way down the street. My sister was down the street. My kids in school. Just my whole life was set up perfectly right there," Lillard said in an interview with Chris Mannix from Sports Illustrated. "It was a great situation. So just leaving that behind alone is a lot. And then you add the basketball side to it, and that is what it is."

Asked whether it was lonely due to it sounding that way, the player didn't deny it.

"It's definitely lonely because I'm such a family guy. My life is my family," Lillard admitted.

"After games, I would come out and my whole family would be back there. My kids coming out of the playroom. My mom, my brother, my cousins lived there, you know what I mean?" he continued. "My best friends live in Portland. So I would come out, we would go to dinner. They might come to my house. After practice, I might go to my mom’s house and just chill. That's how my life was. So, I mean, I'm fine because I'm grown. But it’s definitely lonely. I'm filled up by those people."

His life in Milwaukee isn't something he would be cheerful about.

"Bro, go to practice, go home, watch boxing, play video games. Man, I type in FightHype on YouTube 100 times and be praying for something new to be on there. Seriously, I don't have much of a life. But that's what comes with making a big-boy decision. You got to be down for that and figure it out," Lillard explained.

At the same time, the Bucks are dealing with a coaching change and a swing in performance and results following head coach Doc Rivers' arrival, despite praise from Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Having all this in mind, Lillard thinks he chose to change the scenery at the right time in his career. With him being older, Lillard thinks he can handle it much better than he otherwise would have been able to earlier in his career.

"I think it's going to come with some criticism, the 'Why is Dame not doing this? What's going on? He's not shooting well.' And that's part of the reason why I think it happened at the perfect stage of my career or at the age that I'm at, because I can handle that, and I know the process part of it, so I'm just sticking with it. I think the beauty of it is adversity hits everybody and when you get toward the end, it's who's tested, who's tried and who's really true," the player concluded.

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