NBA IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT

December 6, 2023

Damian Lillard

Milwaukee Bucks

Semifinal Practice Day

Q. Obviously this isn't a regular-season game and it's not a playoff game. (Note: The game does count toward the regular-season standings.) How would you characterize this game, and does it have a playoff-type feel?

DAMIAN LILLARD: No, I wouldn't say that. Because we all know the season is going to continue, regardless of what happens, I don't think it's the same. When you get to the Playoffs, this is it. Somebody got to go home.

In this situation, we're going to go home but we're going to go home to more games and there's still opportunity to be there in the end. So I wouldn't compare it to that.

But it's just one of those things where it's an opportunity to be the last man standing. There's a prize in the end that could have an impact on a lot of people involved, and we've got an opportunity at it.

When it's high stakes, something to be had -- it's a super, super competitive league. It's something different. The opportunity to just be here in Vegas in the middle of the season is different.

Everything that's going into it, I think it makes it what it is. It gives that excitement and that different level of competition and care that you don't usually get in December in an NBA season.

I think it's doing what it's supposed to do. A lot of teams who probably didn't appreciate it in the first one or two In-Season Tournament games are probably wishing like, man, we should have took this a little more serious for this opportunity.

Q. What was it like pulling into Vegas in the middle of December? What were you thinking as the plane pulls up last night?

DAMIAN LILLARD: Man, I was like, Vegas in December, this is different. You see all the hotels when we pull up, it's like, man, we're actually in Vegas. It's crazy. What do I do? Do I just go to sleep or what?

But like I said, it's doing what it's supposed to do. Having an opportunity to be here is almost like a break from the season but not a break from the season. We get to take a little trip and have an opportunity to reach a prize that, like I've said before, could impact a lot of our younger teammates and our staff. It could do something for people.

We can also build on it as a team. I think this is a confidence builder, and it just feels good. Being here just feels good for our team, and I think for us individually it's something to be had.

Q. I've been asking players and coaches today that if they won on Saturday how they would want their teams to celebrate. Would you like to see a banner, that kind of thing? More broadly speaking, having not won an NBA Finals yet, what a win in an In-Season Tournament, the first ever, what that would mean to somebody like you?

DAMIAN LILLARD: I mean, I wouldn't expect a banner. I think whoever wins it is going to go down in history as the first person to win it. I think that's the beauty in that.

But I'll just take the money. Give us what we came here for, and that would be great.

But to win the Cup, it would be a great thing for our team, like I said. Obviously we're here to win it, regardless, just as competitors and people who love the game. But I don't know, man, I think as far as a celebration, you just continue to build on it and take it for what it is. We're the last team standing in this specific competition, and it'll be something for us to build on.

But for me personally, it's not going to be like, oh, we won something. I'm interested in winning in June more than anything. But like I said, this is a great opportunity for us to accomplish something that's happening for the first time and also something for us to build on.

Q. (On how he would spend the prize money.)

DAMIAN LILLARD: I don't know yet. I ain't just going to go blow it or nothing. But I've got a few people that could probably use some assistance, and I think it would feel like it's not coming directly out of my pocket. I'd probably look out for a few people.

Q. For a team like you guys who are trying to get it all done in one season, all the chemistry changes and then get to the end of June, the only team to change its starting lineup to win the title in the last 20 years is the 2004 Pistons. Rasheed Wallace came in midseason and they were able to win. You didn't come in quite midseason but right at the start. To have been in a game with stakes, do you think that would prepare you guys, this particular Bucks team, for the Playoffs that maybe two or three years from now it wouldn't make the same difference?

DAMIAN LILLARD: I don't know, I have a hard time saying that this situation is going to prepare us for the Playoffs because that's just a different thing. But I think it's a part of that process, of us just being together. I think that's going to be the number one thing is us just being together, continuing to get to know each other. And more so than something being at stake, I think it's just being in those moments where we develop trust and comfort with each other, and over time I think that's what it's going to be.

I think one thing we have on our side is our experience. It's not like I'm coming in here as a fifth- or sixth-year player. None of our guys are 24, 25 that are coming into the situation.

We understand what it takes. We all have the experience. We all have the ability. I think our personalities go well together, as well.

I think in time, everything will come together as it should and we'll have as good of a chance as anybody.

Q. You've obviously been through the league a bunch of years, obviously the first time through this. What are some things you'd like to see tweaked or changed about this that could potentially improve it for next year?

DAMIAN LILLARD: I would like to see better designs for the courts. That's one thing. I'm not sure right now what else I would change. I think the format is pretty solid. I think it's something that was well thought out. There's not much that I would change off the top of my head. I'm sure when I walk away there will be a couple things I can think of, but I think it's pretty solid.

The only thing I would think of is just the prize. What can we do to up the prize? That's it.

Q. Does that mean more money or does that mean from a team standpoint, whether it's a playoff spot or some other thing like that to potentially raise the stakes a little bit more?

DAMIAN LILLARD: Money. I mean, that's how you're going to get people to -- sweeten the pot.

But I wouldn't say give somebody a playoff spot based off of this. A lot of things can change from now until playoff time.

Q. Tyrese earlier had mentioned your pick-and-roll with Brook and Giannis being an option off of that. What have you liked about working with Brook in that action, and how has that maybe become something not a whole lot of people talk about, but it seems like it's becoming a staple to a degree?

DAMIAN LILLARD: I think it's between me and Brook, it's just a lot of communication about it. A lot of times we end up in the locker room at the same time. When we're going through like our warmup, we wind up standing there, me and him organically having a lot of conversation since I've been here. But also I think a lot of times where we're running the most pick-and-roll is in the second group when me and Brook are in the game together. He's just always coming up to me like, do you want me to change the angle, do you want me to set it higher, set random screens? It's just the communication. I think me playing off of him, the way his guy is staying in front of me and he's getting wide-open threes or he's diving down the middle and he's right at the rim, I think the communication and him seeing how much he'll benefit from it and how much it can help our team is just flowing a little bit better.