Lillard still salty over All-Star snubs

Damian Lillard has learned to adjust his expectations when it comes to All-Star selections, but that doesn't mean he won't feel slighted if he's left out of the game for a third straight year.

The 27-year-old point guard, who was an All-Star in 2014 and 2015 and an All-NBA second-teamer in 2016, is averaging 25 points, 4.8 rebounds, 6.5 assists, and 1.1 steals for the 23-21 Portland Trail Blazers this season.

"I've gotten frustrated just for the fact that it feels like I always got to be the fall guy and every other guy has been deserving," Lillard told ESPN's Chris Haynes. "In the past, the thing has been, 'All right, my team has been 10 games under .500 or not in the playoffs, but every year we've found a way to be in the postseason, and this year I think we're in much better position than we have been in the past two seasons that I didn't make it. I think I've gotten over the emotional part of it the last few times that I didn't make it. Now I'm kind of like expecting it to go that way, but I feel like I should be there."

Griping about being overlooked is nothing new for Lillard, who in the past has talked about being "consciously" motivated by his All-Star exclusions and even dropped a track about it.

Lillard suggested that playing in small-market Portland may have something to do with his struggle to get rewarded, especially when it comes to the popularity contest that is the All-Star fan vote. Lillard ranked eighth among Western Conference guards in the last round of balloting, behind rookie Lonzo Ball, who's shooting 35.6 percent from the field for a 15-29 Lakers team.

"He plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most, if not the most, storied franchises in that big of a market," Lillard said of Ball. "So, so many people are going to support him throughout that, and also with his dad and all the attention that's been surrounding him since college. There's a lot of people that follow him, so, that's not really a surprise to me."

Lillard acknowledged that market size plays less of a factor than it used to, and cited his signature shoe and considerable social media following as examples of how he's broken out of the small-market mold. But he still thinks he'd get more respect playing somewhere like Los Angeles or New York.

"There's a lot of things that I've been able to be successful at while playing in a small market because of social media," he said. "But I still think playing in a big market, there's a difference in a big market and a small market. That's just the way it will always be. You can't look at Memphis and New York City and say, 'Oh, well, if you're a star, you're a star.'"

Not that Lillard has any intentions of playing elsewhere in the near or distant future.

"I want to be the best Trail Blazer ever," he said. "And when people talk about this franchise, I want them to talk about me. I want to be what people think of first when they talk about the Portland Trail Blazers."