‘Never wanted to leave’: Damian Lillard hosts kids camp following his return to Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — There’s joy, and then there’s the joy currently at the Damian Lillard’s kids camp.

“They all walked up and they was like, ‘Man, you back! You back,’” said Lillard of the campers. “Last year, when I did camp and I wasn’t on the team, that was like the main question. They all kept asking like, ‘Are you going to come back? Are you going to come back?’ I didn’t see it happening this soon, so I was like, ‘Maybe one day.’ But it happened a lot sooner. You can just feel the energy. People are excited and more than anything just happy to have me back here.”

It’s the 12^th year Lillard is hosting his camp, but this year is a bit different than the previous two iterations. In 2023, he had requested a trade from the Blazers a few weeks before.

Being officially back in Portland obviously means a lot to the kids, but it means a lot to Lillard as well.

That was exemplified in a now viral clip on Monday of Lillard going back into the Blazers locker room at the Moda Center for the first time.

“Walking back to my locker was just like, these types of things don’t happen in the NBA,” said the point guard. “Feeling a lot of emotions because of that. I never wanted to leave to begin with, so now that it’s happening like this, it was just like this is almost too good to be true.”

That’s also how he feels about being NBA teammates with Jrue Holiday’s for the first time.

Lillard and Holiday teamed up at the 2020 Olympics and have remained friends ever since, to the point where Lillard rented Holiday’s house in Milwaukee.

Holiday texted Lillard when he got traded to the Blazers before Lillard was also headed back.

“I’m from California, and I’ve been living here for the past 13 years. I think once you get here, and you get on the ground, you learn to like it or love it in my case. That was kind of what I shared with him,” said Lillard.

Lillard’s camp goes through Friday at the Beaverton YMCA.