Damian Lillard Stats: Is Portland Trail Blazers’ star having the greatest season of his career so far?
Damian Lillard has shown fans throughout his career that he's capable of delivering spectacular performances night in and night out. Lillard has essentially begun to spoil fans, according to Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups.
Lillard, who is currently gearing up for the 2023 NBA All-Star weekend, is fresh off a dominant 60-point performance in late-January. After the performance, Billups spoke to media members, saying:
“We’ve gotten spoiled here, being able to see this guy night in and night out, just dominate and score 30 in a half or 60 in a game. It’s been incredible. He’s been so dang good. It’s crazy.”
With a 60 point game behind him, and All-Star weekend right around the corner, let's take a look at whether Damian Lillard is averaging career-high numbers.
Above, you can see highlights from his 60-point game.
In-depth look at Damian Lillard's stats this season
Currently, Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers sit in 11th place in a stacked Western Conference. Sitting two and a half games behind the Dallas Mavericks in sixth place, a spot that would clinch them a playoff berth, the team needs wins.
Damian Lillard has done his fair share of scoring during that time, averaging 31.4 points per game this season. For a player known for scoring at an incredibly high rate, it's astounding to think that he's scoring a full 1.4 points per game higher than his career best. During the 2019-20 season, Lillard averaged 30.0 points per game, a career high.
Should he be able to keep it up, the 32-year-old will have set a new career-high, along with his current 46.7% from the field.
When it comes to his assist numbers, his current average of 7.3 assists per game is above his career-average of 6.6, and on par with his 7.3 from last season. During the 2019-20 season, Lillard also averaged a career-best 8.0 assists per game.
Similarly, his rebounding average of 4.3 rebounds per game is ahead of his 4.2 career-average, while being below his career-high of 4.9 rebounds per game during the 2016-17 season.
On the defensive end of the ball, Lillard's 0.8 steals per game sit below his career-average of 1.0 steals per game, and .4 shy of his 2014-15 career-high 1.2. When it comes to blocks, it's more of the same for Lillard, who is averaging 0.3 blocks per game, which is on par with his career average.
As the Portland Trail Blazers look to secure a spot in the play-in tournament, the team will need Lillard at his best. After his 60-point performance, he spoke to media members about his mentality, something he will likely carry with him after the All-Star break.
“I think any time you score 60 points it’s special, but I think this one I just felt like it came pretty simple,” Lillard said. “I thought I played the game as it should’ve been played. I knew we needed to win so I came out with a mentality to attack and be aggressive, but it wasn’t like I just came out on fire. It wasn’t one of those games.”
You can see his comments below kicking off the video.