Damian Lillard criticizes the current NBA: 'We can't keep doing that' / News - Basketnews.com

Damian Lillard shared that he doesn't like the current structure of the NBA where veteran presence has lost its value and new players are immediately given the keys to franchises just after getting drafted. Lillard said that the current climate makes it harder for him to stay in the league.

Credit: AFP - Scanpix Credit AFP - Scanpix

Damian Lillard is in his 11th season in the NBA. He's played against players like Richard Hamilton, he's now playing against players who are 13 years younger than him.

2-pointers this season

55%27,3Points made:27,3Accuracy:55,5%Place in standings:26Record max:36Record min:19Most made 2FGs:Damian LillardTeamNBAStatisticsSchedule

"When I came into the league, Jason Kidd was starting for the Knicks, Grant Hill and Kurt Thomas, Kenyon Martin, it was like real older dudes in the league," Lillard told JJ Redick on The Old Man and The Three podcast. "I played with real vets. It was a lot of stuff that I learned about being a point guard or how to lead from Mo Williams and Earl Watson, and Jared Jeffries, and they didn't even play. The way they showed me how the stuff had to be done, I had no choice but to respect the game,"

Having competed against much older players on the court, the Portland Trail Blazers superstar sees that both the game and the environment around it have changed significantly throughout the years he's been in the league.

In particular, Lillard thinks that the recently-drafted prospects are treated too nicely right from the get-go.

"When I came into the league, you had to earn what you get from the team, you had to earn your space on the team. There was no 'oh, you're the 6th pick of the draft, it's your team'. The biggest difference is that you don't have that veteran presence now," the player explained. "You have players who are more talented than ever coming into the league, they're being picked 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, they're making more money than those picks ever made."

"Not only that, now you're giving them the keys to the franchise. There's nobody there to really let them know 'you're super talented but you've got to earn stuff around here'. They come in and everything is just given to them from the beginning. That affects how they are and the way they play. They play for themselves, they play for stats, they think that they're LeBron James when they make an All-Star Game or they get a max contract," Lillard shared. "It's just different. The NBA I play in now is not the NBA I came into."

Portland Trail Blazers / Schedule

Boston Celtics Portland Trail Blazers115-93 Philadelphia 76ers Portland Trail Blazers120-119 New Orleans Pelicans Portland Trail Blazers127-110 Portland Trail Blazers New York Knicks107-123 Portland Trail Blazers Boston CelticsSat02:00 Portland Trail Blazers Los Angeles ClippersMon01:00

Further on in his answer, Dame denied the notion that he doesn't want to win because he's stayed with the Blazers throughout his entire tenure in the NBA.

According to him, it's starting to get more difficult to play in the league due to the nature of the way things are being done.

"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," Lillard said. "I don't want to make it about my situation but I was talking after a game like a week ago, they were asking 'Dame, to win a ring', and I'm like 'bro, I don't need to prove to you that I want to win a ring', why the hell do I play? I don't need to prove that to y'all."

"I understand that we play to win championships, we all want to win a championship, we can't keep acting like nothing matters, like the journey doesn't matter, we can't keep doing that. I feel like there's so many ways that the league is different. I don't know if I can just play a long long time because I don't enjoy what the NBA as a whole is becoming," he concluded.

Full Damian Lillard's answer:

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