Dame says he’s Oakland’s best shooter, lists top Bay players

Warriors

Dame says he’s Oakland’s best shooter, lists top Bay players

When it comes to hoop legends that hail from the Bay Area, Damian Lillard isn’t afraid to put himself at the top of the list.

The Portland Trail Blazers took to Twitter for an impromptu online Q&A session Thursday, and kept it honest when asked who he believed the best shooter from Oakland is.

It was a short and simple retort, but the five-time NBA All-Star might have a point. Now in his ninth NBA season, Lillard is averaging just under 30 points a game at 29.8, a few points above his career mark of 24.4. Throughout his career, Lillard, who went to Oakland High School, has solidified himself as a premier threat beyond the arc, and has taken that reputation to new heights over his last few seasons. 

However, when it comes to Lillard’s choice for the top three players from the Bay Area, the Oakland native paid homage to three Hall of Famers in Jason Kidd, Gary Payton and Bill Russell.

Kidd, a 10-time NBA All-Star, was born in San Francisco, played high school ball at Saint Joseph of Notre Dame in Alameda, Calif., and played collegiately for the University of California, Berkeley. Payton, like Lillard, hails from Oakland and played for Skyline High School. And while Russell was born in Louisiana, he played high school at McClymonds High School in Oakland and played college ball for the University of San Francisco.

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Lillard’s affinity for the Bay is always on full display whenever he takes the court. His jersey number reads as the number zero, but it is really the letter “O” — a partial tribute to his hometown.

While he might be dazzling fans in Portland, he’ll likely always be a notable figure in the Bay Area as well. 

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