Sliding doors: The teams that almost signed Damian Lillard at the 2012 NBA Draft

Now 34 years old, Damian Lillard is still waiting for a championship ring but his status as one of the best point guards of his generation is not in doubt.

Lillard was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the No.6 overall pick at the 2012 NBA Draft and went on to become a legend, eventually leaving in 2023 with seven NBA All-Star selections and as the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.

Elsewhere he would have challenged for a championship more frequently and he could easily have started his NBA career elsewhere. Lillard only ended up in Portland due to some very particular circumstances that worked in the Trial Blazers’ favor.

Lillard was not particularly highly rated in high school but gradually developed into a national star during college. Playing at Weber State, he led the Big Sky Conference for scoring in 2010/11 but took a medical redshirt after a foot injury halted his season.

When he returned, Lillard averaged 24.5 points per game as a redshirt junior and was the second-highest scorer in the nation. Crucially, that foot injury the previous season prevented him from declaring for the 2011 NBA Draft as was expected, a draft that saw four point guards taken in the top ten, including Kyrie Irving at No. 1.

That meant that by the following year’s draft the market for point guards was low, with a number of teams satisfied with their options.

Lillard was known as a talent but Weber State were not involved in March Madness, meaning that the hype around him was less than some of his peers. Without the evidence that he could perform under real pressure, teams may have been reluctant to use a first round pick on Lillard.

Some outlets had Lillard down as a projected second round pick but he was able to jump up the board with a series of workouts that Fox Sports described as “one of the best ever”. He had individual sessions with the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings, who each had top ten picks for the 2012 NBA Draft.

However the Kings plumped for power forward Thomas Robinson instead, leaving the Trail Blazers free to draft Lillard ahead of the Warriors’ first round pick. It would prove to be an inspired decision and Lillard would quickly become the centerpiece of the Trail Blazers for more than a decade, a player who is regularly ranked among the finest of the modern era.

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