Blazers Vote Damian Lillard for NBPA’s Backbone Award

Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard was selected by his teammates as Portland’s representative for the National Basketball Players Association’s Backbone Award, the union announced Wednesday. Each team voted one player to receive the honor, previously known as Teammate of the Year, for being “the heart and soul of their team.”

The award is part of several NBPA awards that are exclusively voted on by players, instead of awards like MVP that are decided by the media.

Others representing their teams for the Backbone Award include LaMarcus Aldridge for the San Antonio Spurs and Wesley Matthews for the Dallas Mavericks.