Damian Lillard is currently rehabbing a torn left Achilles tendon suffered during the Milwaukee Bucks’ first-round playoff exit last April. However, as a reminder of his brilliance, he won the 3-Point Contest at All-Star Weekend last month, his third title in the event. That tied him with Larry Bird and Craig Hodges for the most ever.
Despite everything he has done to this point, Patrick Beverley thinks Lillard is not quite there yet to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Why Patrick Beverley Questions Damian Lillard’s Hall of Fame Case
Lillard is aiming to return for the 2026-27 season with Portland, the franchise he rejoined last summer on a three-year, $42 million deal. He is a nine-time All-Star and seven-time All-NBA selection, and he was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.
He’s Portland’s all-time leading scorer with over 19,000 points and ranks fifth in NBA history in 3-pointers made. He won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA in Tokyo. He won the 2024 NBA Cup and All-Star Game MVP with Milwaukee.
Beverley, however, commented on his YouTube channel, “Hell no. Like I love Dame. I love Dame. I promise you, I love Dame. No ill will, no beef with Dame at all. It’s too many people getting Hall of Fame, you feel me?
“Hall of Fame has to be like a combination of like points, rebounds, assists. It has to be a combination of like wins. It has to be a combination of playoff appearances, and it has to be a combination of championships.”
Beverley then compared Lillard’s case to that of the Chicago Bulls legend Derrick Rose. “How we gonna say no to D Rose who has a MVP but yes to Dame? If he gets a chip, for sure. Scoring a lot of points on ‘ok’ teams I don’t think that gets you into the Hall of Fame.”
Patrick Beverly says Dame Lilliard is NOT a Hall of Famer:
“HELL NO… It’s too many people getting in the Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame has to be a convo of points, rebounds, assist, playoff wins, championships. How we gonna say no to D Rose who has a MVP but yes to Dame? If he… pic.twitter.com/zhnYwOtf8w
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) March 25, 2026
Beverley’s argument essentially boils down to team success. Lillard never won a championship and reached the Western Conference Finals only once. Fair enough. But the Hall of Fame has never required rings as a prerequisite for guards of Lillard’s caliber.
ESPN recently listed Lillard among its “guaranteed first-ballot inductees,” grouping him with LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant as players who made the 75th Anniversary Team.
Beverley’s invocation of Derrick Rose is interesting. Rose won the 2011 MVP at 22, the youngest in league history, but injuries destroyed what should have been a legendary career. He made three All-Star teams. Chandler Parsons recently said Rose might be the “only MVP to not probably get in.”
The counterargument for both is that we are talking about the Basketball Hall of Fame, not the NBA Hall of Fame. It considers a player’s contribution to the sport as a whole, not just to the NBA.
There is ample evidence that the lack of a championship hasn’t kept players with similar résumés from being inducted into Springfield before. There won’t be many who can contest the inclusion of Steve Nash or Carmelo Anthony.
In fact, the Naismith Hall of Fame has honored high school coaches, women’s basketball icons, international players, coaches, and even executives. Apparently, Beverley’s takes have a lot of room for challenge.
