Damian Lillard Plays Santa: Surprises Boys & Girls Club With Toys R’ Us Shopping Spree

Second-year point guard Damian Lillard has somehow exceeded the expectations he set for himself when he captured the 2013 NBA Rookie of the Year award. So far in his second season, he’s averaging 21.3 points and 5.9 assists per game while shooting 42.8 percent from three-point range. He’s also posting a 20.4 PER after last season’s 16.4, and he’s already got a pair of game-winners in the books. But it’s Dame’s heart, and the impromptu trip he gave a group of Portland Boys & Girls Club kids, that warms our heart the most this holiday season.

Bruce Ely of the Oregonian was on-hand when a group of kids packed onto a bus and headed to a local Toys R’ Us, where they were given a $100 gift card to be used for whatever they wanted:

As the 30 students loaded onto a school bus outside the Blazers Girls and Boys Club on N. Martin Luther King Blvd., very few of them knew where they were going. As they pulled away, the surprise was revealed. The kids were being rewarded for their good behavior with a $100 gift card to be used any way they wanted, compliments of Damian Lillard.

The kids were greeted at the Janzen Beach store by Lillard, Blaze and Geoffrey, The Toys “R” Us mascot. Lillard explained to the kids that he was blessed with good fortune and wanted to share it with them.

Before helping the kids with their shopping, Lillard’s first stop in the toy store was in the aisle that included professional wrestling figures — his favorite growing up.

Lillard walked away with a mini-hoop, naturally, and had a ton of fun with the kids in the store, as relayed via the Trail Blazers’ official Twitter account:

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I mean, just look at how excited these kids got when the surprise was revealed!

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Dame even found time to play a little one-on-one with some of the kids.

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Dame’s star is rising because he’s a humble cat who works hard.

But he also knows just what to do in order to make this the best holiday season ever for a group of lucky kids.

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[Oregonian]

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