It’s almost impossible to estimate how many times Damian Lillard has seen the Trail Blazers’ pinwheel logo. Every time he crosses halfcourt at Moda Center, every time he walks through the doors of the team’s practice facility, there’s the pinwheel. So the amount of times over the course of 10 seasons, 711 games, thousands of practices and countless public appearances that Lillard has been within eyeshot of the Trail Blazers’ iconic logo has to number in the tens of thousands, at least.
But for all the times Lillard has seen the pinwheel logo, which represents five players on two teams working together and competing against each other, he’s never seen it on the team’s jerseys. So when the team approached Lillard about what he’d like to see on their 2022-23 uniforms, his first thought was to feature the image that he’s seen nearly every day for the last decade.
“I didn’t want to go too crazy but I wanted it to look different than what we’ve typically had,” said Lillard. “I wanted to do something with the pinwheel on it, we don’t have any uniforms where it’s just the pinwheel. That was something that I knew I wanted to do, so we did that.”
So with Lillard’s input -- he served as Art Director during the design process -- the Trail Blazers’ 2022-23 “Statement” jersey features a black pinwheel logo, the first time it’s adorned a jersey, centered on a field of red.
“You see the pinwheel all the time,” said Lillard. “What made me think about it a while back was, I feel like it was a Christmas Day jersey for the Bulls, the team logo was on the center of the jersey and I liked it. So I was like ‘The Blazers never did that before, we should try it.’ That’s where it came from.”
The new “Statement” uniform, which is inspired by “the players’ team-first mindset while representing their competitiveness, fearlessness and relentless drive,” also features a number of key diversions from the previous iteration.
The number on the front, which is white outlined by black, is set below and to the left of the pinwheel. There’s no black sash on the front, a common design element of Portland’s jerseys, while the side panels of the jersey and shorts feature pinwheel hashmarks, which “represent the 5-on-5 symbolism taken from the pinwheel logo and teamwork theme.”
The “ripcity” wordmark on the waistband of the shorts is a carryover from the last “Statement” jersey, but just about everything else, aside from the color, is a diversion from previous editions. For Lillard, that was one of the main goals, and a fitting decision as the team enters the 2022-23 season with a remade roster.
“I just like that it’s different,” said Lillard. “To me, that’s my favorite thing about it: it looks different. There’s something new about it, and I like that. I wanted to stay true to our look but I wanted to give it a different spin. I felt like it was executed pretty well.”
While Lillard is often consulted by the team regarding his thoughts on various initiatives, his involvement in the design of the new “Statement” jersey was one of his more in-depth projects with the Trail Blazers. And considering the standard quantity and quality of Lillard’s suggestions and his loyalty to the organization, it only makes sense that the team would seek out his opinions whenever possible.
“I think they know that I never want to impose myself, like I’m in charge of everything and I should be a part of everything, but I pay attention,” said Lillard. “I’ve got ideas and that’s pretty much what it comes down to. A lot of these things I’m like ‘How come we don’t do this? How come we don’t do that?’ I’m just kind of asking the question, which lets them know that I have some type of idea or some thoughts about it. They choose to let me be involved.”
And besides being a Trail Blazer, Lillard is an Oregonian. Like many Oregonians, he arrived in the Pacific Northwest after growing up in California, but has since made the state his full-time home. And during that time, he’s developed an understanding of the community in which he and his family live, a background that helped drive the design decisions on the new “Statement” jersey.
“I’ve been here going on 11 years, there’s a lot that I’ve learned about Oregon and Portland,” said Lillard. “It’s like, you see different things that the community is connected to, stuff that counts. I always want to incorporate that stuff into our uniforms. That’s always on my mind.”
The Trail Blazers will debut their new “Statement” edition jerseys versus the Phoenix Suns on October 21 and can be pre-ordered via the Trail Blazers’ new online team store, RipCityClothing.com.