MORE THAN 400 children packed into a gymnasium at the YMCA in Beaverton, Oregon, in late July for an annual basketball camp. The Damian Lillard Basketball Camp had continued in Oregon, but for the past two years it felt more like a fleeting reunion than a yearly visit with a hometown star.

The most popular question from campers was as heartbreaking as it was obvious.

"So, when are you coming home?"

No such inquiry was required this session.

News broke a week prior that Lillard was signing a three-year deal to return to the Portland Trail Blazers , transforming the camp into the happiest of welcome back parties.

Most of the campers, ages 6 to 16, wore their Lillard jerseys -- an assortment of Milwaukee green and Portland rose -- and Lillard joked to those around him that he had fi

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