Blazers' Damian Lillard: 'I Don't Enjoy' What NBA Is Becoming With Ring Culture

Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard doesn't like the NBA trend of being obsessed with only winning championships.

The guard discussed the situation with J.J. Redick on The Old Man and the Three podcast:

"I just don't know if I can play a long, long time because I don't enjoy what the NBA as a whole is becoming," Lillard said (1:34 in video).

Lillard said he plays for "the love of the game," but he said most people only discuss who wins a championship.

"While I understand we play to win championships—we all want to win the championship—we can't keep acting like nothing matters," he said. "Like the rest of this stuff, the journey, doesn't matter. We can't keep doing that."

The 11-year NBA veteran has stayed loyal to the Trail Blazers throughout his career, but he hasn't come close to winning a championship. He made one run to the Western Conference finals in 2019 before being swept by the Golden State Warriors.

Outside of that run, Lillard's teams have won only two playoff series.

Despite the lack of rings, the guard has still been among the best in the NBA over the past decade with seven All-Star selections, six All-NBA honors and a Rookie of the Year award. The 32-year-old is in the midst of a career year, averaging 32.1 points and 7.3 assists per game.

Though Portland has an uphill battle to even reach the playoffs—it entered Tuesday 13th in the West with a 31-37 record—the superstar deserves to be celebrated for his accomplishments.