Yahoo Finance Presents: NBA All-Star Damian Lillard

On this episode of Yahoo Finance Presents, NBA All-Star Damian Lillard sat down with Yahoo Finance's Dan Roberts to discuss his role in becoming an investor in Players TV, as well as how pro athletes are gaining their own voices in media, and how players can use that platform to have real world impact on social justice.

Video Transcript

DAN ROBERTS: All right. Welcome back to Yahoo Finance Presents. We're delighted to have NBA star Damian Lillard with us. Damian, thanks for joining us, man.

DAMIAN LILLARD: I appreciate you having me here.

DAN ROBERTS: So let's start with the news. We have talked about the launch within the last year of Players TV, and today you announcing that you have joined Players TV as an investor, as a partner. So many big name athletes have joined that platform recently. Why are you getting involved with them? And what is it really for athletes, especially I feel like NBA guys recently, that is so attractive about media, specifically?

DAMIAN LILLARD: We all have our unique stories and our unique interests. Day to day lives and things like that. Our things that we love to do away from what we're known for. And it's unique content to each person. We all have our own story to tell, our own things to share.

And there's platforms for us to exercise that. I get to share that with the world and with fans and things like that. But there's not a lot of platforms where you can control that content, where you can use your creativity and share your story and have control of that content. So in a situation like this, where I'm able to do that, that's really important. Especially while we're in this time of ownership and control, and you're doing things yourself and pushing that line. And also, being an equity partner, it just presented a great opportunity for me.

DAN ROBERTS: Yeah, if you zoom out a little bit, overall, in the last few years, the scene for athletes in media has really changed and evolved. Not just because of social media, but I remember when The Players' Tribune was started. And that was the first big disintermediator, where people were saying, I like publishing a blogpost on The Players' Tribune because I can put in my own voice.

Now we're seeing a much more intense version of that. Bringing your own series, you're going to have a series on this platform called Sessions. You're going to have a documentary about your career on this platform. What's the natural progression in the next step? Are more and more athletes just going to want to be the direct source and origin of their stories? It's a little bit cutting into the traditional way that reporters and journalists cover big-name athletes.

DAMIAN LILLARD: Yeah. Well, I mean, why wouldn't you want to be the source? I think a lot of times narratives get controlled, people get put in a box, people get labeled. And I think it's much easier to do that when you don't have access to the actual source. You're not seeing the character that's being talked about on TV and being talked about on the internet.

And I think stuff like this allows you to share your own. Even if you want to create content where you just share your day to day, or you respond to certain things that happen in the public eye. It gives you the opportunity to be the source. Share your own message, share your side.

And I think another thing is, for us as athletes now, we want-- in the past, it was like, I was the biggest Michael Jordan fan ever. And all I knew was his performances on the floor. I didn't even see many interviews and see what he did off the court and things like that. I knew he was in "Space Jam," and that was about it.

But I think what we have now is an opportunity for people to become fans of us as people, and not just fans of us as athletes. And I think just that alone takes us out of that box of "he's just an athlete," where I got things like "Sessions," where-- another passion of mine is music. And I'm putting it out there in front of them. I'm linking artists with myself, other athletes that do music and things like that and linking them with aspiring artists-- just piecing that puzzle together; using my platform and my resources to help people, which is something that I feel strongly about.

And I've, for eight years, I've done 4 Bar Friday. The community has grown. And we just continue to put things in place. So this is another opportunity to empower those same emcees. And then, with the documentary, it goes back to what I was saying, when you're introducing them to the person and not just the athlete.

DAN ROBERTS: Let's talk about basketball. You just started the new season. You played so well in the bubble, but of course that was last season. And here we are ready to start your new season. On the court you played so well. Of course, the bubble made a lot of news of what happened off the court too, with so many NBA players speaking out for social justice.

I know in June, that you marched in a rally after the death of George Floyd. Talk to me about what the NBA players, and especially those of you who really were the most outspoken, accomplished during the bubble. And what you think the NBA can continue to do, especially we're in a time where if you look what just happened in DC with these violent people who had stormed the Capitol building. I mean, the country is so divided right now. What can basketball and what can sports do to unite people again?

DAMIAN LILLARD: I think we can only do so much, because we just don't have the power to just say, all right, it's time to change everything. We have to participate, and obviously people are going to use their platforms. But we got to be out there, active, actively showing that this affects us too. And searching for ways to try to be a part of the change. I think that's what it comes down to.

And in a bubble, I thought everybody sat back and realized, man, a lot of us Black men, we make up the majority of the NBA. And most of us come from a background where we have run-ins with the cops. And we come from these unfortunate situations where we have experiences that were traumatic, to where it's like you almost want to block it out of your mind.

I've had my own personal experiences where I was racially profiled by cops. I've been pulled over, I've been at gunpoint. I've had all these experiences as a kid. So I think what you saw with the bubble was players having that thought of we've experienced this. This is where we come from. And it's not right for us to just go play basketball and leave it up to everybody else. We got to be active participants. We got to make a stand and put as much attention on this as we possibly can.

And I thought we did that. Obviously, that's just a small piece to what needs to be done. And you got to move forward on to the next thing. How do we help now? But it was disturbing, especially as a Black man. You have to fight so hard just for equality. You're not asking for more. Its just equality. Give me a fair shot, treat me fairly. You know what I'm saying? Value my life the same.

And then it makes it worse when you wake up today and you see them rushing the Capitol building, and people climbing on walls and taking pictures in offices. And just the disrespect, you know what I mean? The fact that it's like, yeah, I could do this and I'm going to be perfectly fine. I'm going to come out of here alive, like no worries, no cares in the world. And you can't help but think, if those were Black people doing that, if those were Black people doing that, I can't imagine what would have happened.

I'm not a person that pulls the race card on everything, but I couldn't help but think, if that was Black people doing that, there would have been a lot of dead people. There would have been a lot of dead people today, man. So it's disturbing, you know what I mean?

And it's like, when is it going to start to change? I think today should be a real eye opener for people to just see the difference. You see peaceful protests, and even a protest that might have gotten a little bit aggressive. They weren't this aggressive. So it's disturbing, man.

DAN ROBERTS: Absolutely. It absolutely is. And I guess I'd also ask you, the level of outspokenness from pro athletes in 2020, it seemed like it really reached a high. And I'd ask you whether you think it has changed in the last few years-- whether pro athletes, whether you yourself, and then I guess NBA players in general-- especially the NBA and WNBA really led the way in 2020.

But across so many sports, whether you think that athletes now feel more than ever that it is OK, and not only OK, but encouraged to speak out. And maybe that wasn't the case before. Or whether you think that was always the case and that now it's just become more acceptable because of social changes.

DAMIAN LILLARD: I think part of it is because of social changes. The consequences of us speaking out on it aren't the same. In the past, I feel like it would have been much more harsh repercussions for speaking out and putting yourself under a microscope and putting yourself in that position. There might be a black eye on whatever league you represent or whatever team you represent. And they might say, don't do this or don't do that, and try to control it.

But I think now, because of the social change that we've had over the years, and even in the NBA, it's like how supportive they have been of the players. I think that's only going to cause the players to feel more confident and comfortable with coming forward, especially when you look at the past, you might look like people-- we make a lot more money now than athletes made years back.

So for them it was like, I can't afford to get fined and get suspended without pay and get whatever-- kicked out of the league or anything like that. It was a tough decision to make.

Whereas, now it's like, if we speak out and something goes wrong or they try to hold us accountable on a level where it could mess up our family situation or take away a contract or something, it would be World War III. So I think teams and leagues have to be careful with that, and they have to respect the opinions of the athletes more now, as opposed to the way it was back then.

DAN ROBERTS: Damian Lillard, thanks so much for joining us.

DAMIAN LILLARD: Appreciate it, man.