Damian Lillard wasn't named to the Western Conference All-Star team, but that won't keep the Trail Blazers' point guard away from Toronto.

CJ McCollum is representing the Blazers in the Skills Competition and Will Barton is headed for the Slam Dunk Contest. Forget the freezing weather forecast, the five-hour cross-country flight and navigating through Canadian customs. Lillard wouldn't miss a chance to watch his close friends compete at the NBA's midseason showcase.

"I got to support my guys," Lillard said last week, motioning toward McCollum, who was warming up before the Blazers game in Memphis. "That's my boy."

As Lillard has evolved into one of the NBA's brightest stars, he hasn't ditched one of the elemental traits that has defined his basketball life and elevated him into the leader of the franchise. Lillard hasn't lost his loyalty. Already this season, the two-time All-Star has pledged a lifetime commitment to the Blazers while responding to an innocuous question after he scored 40 points against Golden State, and reaffirmed his allegiance to coach Terry Stotts, saying, "As long as I am here, I would like him to be here.''

Loyalty isn't a facade for Lillard. It's a distinguishing characteristic instilled in him by his parents that has been a fabric of his identity since his days as a youth basketball player in Oakland. Lillard's sense of loyalty informed what AAU team he played for as a teenager, where he attended college and has stayed with him as he's ascended into a celebrity in his fourth NBA season.

"Somebody shows you who they are, then you believe them until proven otherwise. I'm loyal to that," Lillard said. "I'm loyal to the people who invest in me and that's loyal to me."

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Lillard joined the Oakland Rebels AAU team because coach Raymond Young was one of the first adults to recognize Lillard's talent as a skinny middle schooler. The Rebels were the lesser of two AAU teams in Oakland, and when Lillard's basketball stock started to rise, the Oakland Soldiers tried to recruit Lillard to join them, flaunting their notoriety and status.

"When I started getting real good, they wanted me to come to some tournaments with them," Lillard recalled. "They have sponsorship, LeBron played for them, free shoes ... they want to give me shoes and all that. I was like, 'No thank you. I'm cool.'"

Lillard's commitment to stay with the Rebels meant less visibility on the recruiting circuit. During the spring of his junior year in high school, he wasn't generating much buzz.

"I remember I had a game in Texas, an AAU game," Lillard said. "I was in the 11th grade, going into the 12th grade, and none of us were getting recruited on my whole entire team. There was one coach at my game and that was Coach Rahe."

Weber State coach Randy Rahe was the first to recruit Lillard, and that early connection set the stage for a lifelong bond between player and coach.

"I do remember sitting down there watching them and liking the fact that we were the only ones watching him play," Rahe said. "And I remember thinking 'Man, where is everybody?'"

As Lillard drew interest from other schools, he stayed in contact with coach Rahe and Weber State. But Rahe still wasn't certain that his early connection with Lillard would lead to a commitment. Lillard finally took an official visit to the school in the fall, making the trip from Oakland to the Weber State campus in Ogden, Utah, with his mother, Gina Johnson.

Rahe met with Johnson and Lillard on campus and then set up a home visit in Oakland for the following weekend.

"Right before I left (Lillard's house) I said, 'OK, Gina, I had a great visit but I have to go,'" Rahe recalled. "She said, 'Coach you might want to stay a minute.' Damian and his dad were in the back yard talking and he came up and whispered in my ear and said, 'Coach, I'm coming to you guys.'"

The decision to go to Weber State had everything to do with Rahe's early commitment to Lillard and his honesty throughout the process. Even as Lillard drew interest from San Diego State, Arizona State and Washington State, he remained loyal to Rahe.

"They never said 'We got this over everybody else.'" Lillard said. "They said 'This is what we're going to do. This is what we're about. We would love to have you.' I'd rather have that and go somewhere where I knew the real from the jump."

"Damian is an old soul. He gets it," Rahe said. "Anybody who has treated him well. He's going to give it right back to them."

Rahe said he and his wife consider Lillard "like a son" to this day. He and Lillard exchange texts multiple times a week and Lillard visits Ogden at least once every summer to see Rahe and speak to the Weber State team.

"He is as loyal a person as you'll find," Rahe said. "You gotta treat him right."

* * *

What drew Lillard to Weber State was that the program's values aligned with what he wanted: "Toughness, togetherness, character," as Rahe describes it. Lillard says he's found a similar compatibility in Portland, the franchise that drafted him No. 6 overall in 2012 and signed him to a 5-year, $120 million extension over the summer.

"(Weber State) represented everything that I represented and the same thing goes for here," Lillard said. "They appreciate what I represent."

The contract negotiations this summer happened in a matter of minutes. Blazers President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey called Lillard while Lillard was traveling in France, laid out the parameters of the max contract extension and Lillard agreed without hesitation.

"I said, 'Thank you' and told him how much I appreciated it," Lillard said. "He told me how much I deserved it and how I earned it and that was it."

"They took him with the No. 6 pick in the draft," Rahe said of the Blazers. "He views that as, 'I owe these guys something. They took a chance on me and I'm going to give it back to them.'"

Lillard is "giving back" to the Blazers with the best season of his career, averaging career highs of 24.3 points and 7.3 assists per game, while surprisingly leading the Blazers into playoff contention heading into the All-Star break.

This weekend, he'll head to Toronto for All-Star Weekend as a spectator, even though Lillard -- who ranks among the top six in scoring and assists -- probably deserves to be playing. He isn't in the Sunday showcase, but he'll be there as a fan and a friend.

"It means a lot," McCollum said. "We always appreciate his support."

-- Mike Richman

mrichman@oregonian.com

@mikegrich