LOCALS IN THE NBA
BYU Football Player Catches Damian Lillard’s Attention With Utah Jazz Pitch
SALT LAKE CITY – BYU football, Damian Lillard, and the Utah Jazz all in one tweet. Say what?
Yeah, that’s what happened on Wednesday when BYU defensive lineman Lorenzo Fauatea tweeted at former Weber State Wildcat and current Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard.
Fauatea, a native of West Valley City and a passionate Utah Jazz fan, pitched to Lillard on Twitter to play for his beloved Jazz.
BYU Football player makes Utah Jazz recruiting pitch to Damian Lillard
The pitch consisted of a photoshopped picture of Lillard in a Jazz jersey with a tweet that read, “What we thinking bro? @Dame_Lillard New legacy here in the 801 with @spidadmitchell?”
What we thinking bro? @Dame_Lillard New legacy here in the 801 with @spidadmitchell? 👀🔥 pic.twitter.com/qriv7nmQEN
— Lorenzo Fauatea (@ZFauatea) June 24, 2021
Since Lillard and the Trail Blazers bowed out of the first round of the NBA Playoffs to the Denver Nuggets, many fans on social media have speculated if Lillard will want to force his way out of Portland, despite having four years remaining on his current contract.
After the Blazers’ exit to the Nuggets, Lillard wrote a cryptic post on Instagram with lyrics from the late Nipsey Hussle, “How long should I stay dedicated? How long til opportunity meet preparation”
View this post on Instagram
Lillard responded to Fauatea’s tweet minutes after the original tweet with a simple response, “Horrible photoshop.”
Horrible photoshop https://t.co/5QefmM7ffo
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) June 24, 2021
Now Jazz fans, don’t look at this as Lillard saying he would never want to play for the Jazz. To Lillard’s credit, the photoshop is pretty rough. It’s not the clean, smooth edit you see from many creators when speculating where NBA superstars could land in the future.
Even Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell couldn’t support the photoshop effort. “Jersey untucked and (expletive),” tweeted Mitchell.
But as you know, in NBA Twitter, things took off quickly. Thousands of people retweeted and liked the 6-time All-Star’s tweet.
Fauatea wanted to set the record straight and make it known; he wasn’t the one who put the Photoshop together.
“Listen bro I just found it off the internet [emoji] Also, @spidadmitchell help me out here… #Takenote,” wrote Fauatea in a follow-up.
Four summers ago, Lillard was once asked if he had the opportunity to sign with any team in the league other than the Trailblazers; what team would it be?
If blazers said they didn't want me… Utah Jazz or Lakers https://t.co/jep3V9qRsS
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) June 14, 2017
At that time, Lillard did say the Utah Jazz or the Los Angeles Lakers, if the Blazers said they didn’t want him. That’s not happening anytime soon.
For now, we will just have to keep seeing the photoshopped pitches.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
