PLEASE NOTE: New details added below.
Featured here is an outstanding pair of Damian Lillard game worn and dual-signed Adidas ‘D Lillard 1’ basketball shoes from the 2015-16 NBA season. The Adidas ‘D Lillard 1’ shoes were Dame's first signature shoe with Adidas and this one, in particular, is the special "Rip City" edition. The "DAME" logo is stamped in red on the tongues, with a large "D" and Adidas logo on the heels. On the left insole is his facsimile signature; the right insole has four lines of lyrics from one of his Dame D.O.L.L.A. rap songs. Lillard has autographed each shoe on the outer rear panel in black permanent marker. The size 12.5 sneakers are proprerly tagged in the interior ("06/15" manufacturing date) and show obvious signs of game use, with creasing, scuffing and two significant paint transfers from the court or another player's shoe. The five-time All-Star averaged over 25 points per game with four rebounds and nearly seven dimes during his ‘15-16 campaign with the Portland Trail Blazers.
While we were unable to pinpoint the exact game or games Lillard wore these white low-tops with gray accents and spotting, photo research indicated he wore this same style colorway in eight games: 10/8 vs. GSW (preseason, 22 points); 10/18 vs. Utah (preseason, 32 points); 10/28 vs. NOP (opening night, 21 pts. & 11 ast.); 11/11 vs. SAS (22 pts. & 9 ast.); 11/20 vs. LAC (27 pts. & 7 ast.); 12/3 vs. IND (26 pts. & 9 ast.); 12/8 at CLE (33 pts. 6 ast. & 6 reb.); 12/12 vs. NYK (29 pts. & 8 reb.). The Getty images were not clear enough to see the red paint transfers on the inner side of the right shoe.
This season, interrupted by a worldwide pandemic, Lillard joined a prestigious group of NBA players when he dropped 50 points for the 10th time in his career. Only ten NBA players have accomplished this rare feat. In fact, Lillard dropped 60 points in a game three times this year. Only six players in NBA history have scored 60+ more than once in their careers, and only Wilt has done it thrice in the same season like Dame. No player, besides maybe the Baby-Faced Assassin in the Bay Area, has more range than Lillard, who now regularly pulls up from the center circle to drain 40+ footers. "Dame Time" has become synonymous with the superstar point guard's propensity to dominate the fourth quarter and perform in the clutch; just ask Paul George who watched Lillard's 36-footer at the buzzer knock out OKC in the playoffs last year. The photo-matching potential of these shoes combined with the lack of Dame gamers in the market put these in elite company for one of the NBA's biggest stars.
This lot is accompanied by Beckett Authentication COA’s (Cert. #: T71065, T71066) for the autographs and a letter of provenance from a former Knicks ball boy.