6. Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers
Last Rank: No. 7
Position: Point Guard
Age: 25
Slash Line: .428/.373/.873
Season Averages: 35.9 MPG, 25.3 PPG, 6.9 APG, 4.3 RPG, 1.0 SPG, 3.1 3PM
The Portland Trail Blazers are the biggest overachievers in the NBA. Despite losing Arron Afflalo, LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, Robin Lopez, and Wesley Matthews this past offseason, Portland is 33-29 and in possession of the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference.
Damian Lillard has been the star player for Portland since the beginning of the season, and he deserves to be praised for his impact—whether the numbers tell that story or not.
Lillard’s scoring is impressive enough, as his 25.3 points per game rank No. 5 in the NBA. He’s also No. 4 in 3-point field goals made and No. 3 in 3-point field goals made per game, with another Top 10 ranking in assists per game.
Just .5 game back of the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference, and 4.0 games back of the No. 5 seed.
Portland has won 14 of its past 17 games, as well as 18 of 23, behind Lillard’s efforts. During that 23-game stretch, Lillard is averaging 26.3 points and 6.9 assists on a slash line of .451/.387/.862—as telling a set of numbers as you’ll ever see.
Lillard has a number of quality players around him, but Portland has no business being as good as it is.
Next: No. 5