Getty LeBron James guarding Damian Lillard.
Damian Lillard is on top of the basketball world after guiding his Portland Trail Blazers to the NBA Playoffs as an eighth seed.
One person that’s got his eyes on Marbury is NBA legend and Chinese basketball icon, Stephon Marbury
“But why they not talking about Dame Lillard being the best player in the NBA,” Marbury asked in a post on Instagram.
Taking a cursory look in the comment section of Marbury’s post he gave a lot of insight. “He’s intelligent,” he wrote. Real and a killer. Him being the best in the game right now is due to how he’s playing right now. Everyone’s record is 0-0. It doesn’t matter [what] you did in the regular season as there are 3 seasons in basketball, Play Finals.”
One person stated: Dame ascended to new heights in the bubble. Marbury replied: “1 of 1”
Another IG user stated: He’s [Lillard] going off. Marbury replied: “It’s a different going off. Did you see the work he put in before this all started? 1 of 1.”
I jumped into the comments and asked him to expand and Marbury replied: “I mean when we watch him play it’s not hard to see.”
I told Marbury that Lillard looks like him, he disagreed and said: “Nah he’s on something else.”
Marbury thinks the world of Lillard. “It’s a real conversation that’s need for the hoop world,” Marbury told me via text message.
“He’s not with the super team movement and he’s building it from the ground up.”
A two-time NBA All Star, Marbury played 12 NBA seasons and averaged 19.3 points and 7.6 assists in stops with the Minnesota Timberwolves, New Jersey Nets, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics.
This is not the first time that Stephon Marbury has been vocal about today’s NBA. Back in the spring, Marbury appeared on the Scoop B Radio Podcast and debunked the LeBron James and Michael Jordan debate. “You can’t say that LeBron Jmaes is better than Michael Jordan,” Marbury told me.
“C’mon man. LeBron’s a great player. Don’t get me wrong. A great, great player. Unbelievable. Amazing. But better than Michael Jordan? – it’s not even the same. It’s just different. In fact, it needs no explanation or explaining because we can’t talk about Jordan’s game. It’s like we need to talk about what people are “not.”
“People wanna rank Jordan? Jordan shouldn’t even be ranked. It should be Kobe, then LeBron and then you can pick guys after that. There’s just no comparison man. It’s not the same. It’s just different worlds. Different mentalities. I don’t know why Jordan’s name is mentioned in the same conversation sometimes. I’ll clear that up real quick…there’s really no need to talk about that.”
Meanwhile back at the ranch: Damian Lillard has been on a tear in the NBA bubble.
For those keeping score at home: During the eight seeding games at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, the Oakland, California native averaged 37.6 PPG and 9.6 APG. Lillard and the eighth seeded Blazers will play LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. “They’re the No. 1 seed in the West for a reason,” Lillard told Bleacher Report’s Sean Highkin after Saturday afternoon’s win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
“They’ve got the best player in the world on their team. But at the same time, we didn’t fight as hard as we thought in the bubble to just say, ‘All right, we’re the eighth seed’ and just go out here and get beat up on.”
While Lillard is getting ready for the Blazers’ first round matchup with the Lakers, he has respect for LeBron James who many do believe is the game’s current best player. In fact, he thinks the world of him.
In an interview last year, I asked Lillard: “If LeBron James is the Jay-Z of the NBA, Damian Lillard is what?
Lillard paused, smiled and said: “J. Cole.”
The first signee of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label in 2009, J.Cole’s debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story shot up to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and earned him a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.
LeBron James averaged 34.6 minutes, 25.3 points and 7.8 rebounds to go with a league-leading 10.2 assists this season. He and Milwaukee Bucks forward, Giannis Antetokounmpo are believed to be the finalists for the NBA’s MVP award this season. He is a fan of Lillard’s game.
James reposted a meme on Instagram story of Lillard hitting a half court shot from Thursday’s game againt the Brooklyn Nets with a crying laughing faces with a caption that read: “Imagine taking your girl with you to the court to watch you hoop and a dude does this to you. She will bring this up everything yall argue.”