BOISE — When NBA All-Star Damian Lillard saw a football stuck behind the bleachers at Albertsons Stadium a few days ago, there was only one thing for him to do.

The Portland Trailblazers guard grabbed the ball and began playing catch with fellow NBA player Tim Frazier, and Lillard eventually found him in the end zone for a touchdown pass.

For a sports fan like Lillard, throwing a touchdown pass on the blue turf was no little accomplishment.

“Not a lot of people can say they’ve done that,” Lillard said.

Lillard and Frazier are among a small group of NBA and overseas players to cycle through Boise in the past 10 days to train with Boise State assistant coach Phil Beckner.

It’s the second consecutive summer that Lillard has come to Boise to work out with Beckner on Boise State’s campus. The two have been close since Beckner was an assistant coach at Weber State and Lillard was on the team from 2008-2012.

Lillard spoke to Boise State’s team last summer during his first visit to Boise.

“It’s much appreciated on my part that Boise State lets us use the gym and lets us get in as many workouts as we want,” Lillard said. “They let us use the swimming pools, the weight room — people are staying later when we want to get extra workouts in.

“They don’t even know me that well but they are opening up their facilities and using their personal time to accommodate us, which we all really appreciate.”

Lillard had social media buzzing in Boise last summer during his first visit when people began to notice him around town. Several questioned whether or not they had just seen him at WinCo, only to later confirm it was indeed the NBA star.

The NBA lottery pick — he was taken No. 6 overall by Portland in 2012 — averaged a career-high 27.0 points per game in the recently completed NBA season. In five years in the league he already has a Rookie of the Year Award and two All-Star appearances to his name.

And he gives some of the credit to Beckner, who has spent time training with him each summer since he entered the NBA in 2012.

“He watches film, he comes up with drills and different ways to challenge me,” Lillard said. “I’ve reached the level as a professional where some guys might not be comfortable challenging me and maybe pushing me and making me mad, but he’s not afraid of any of those things. His No. 1 goal is to make me better than I was before I came here. It’s been that way since day one.”

Lillard said he “could tell you a million stories” about his relationship with Beckner, but pointed to a stretch earlier this season when both he and the Trailblazers were struggling.

“I got a call from Phil and that was the conversation I needed to hear,” Lillard said. “It turned a lot of things around for me mentally.

“I care about him like family. He actually is family to me, and I know he cares about me the same. He’s been invested in my career from 2008 until today. He cares about how well I do and how I’m doing personally.”

Boise State fans saw Beckner’s ability first hand last season with the improvement of Chandler Hutchison. The Broncos are hoping others including Justinian Jessup and Alex Hobbs make big strides this coming year.

Lillard said he has taken an interest to Boise State’s program since Beckner joined the staff last spring. He watched games on TV when he could, and drove to nearby Eugene to watch the Broncos play in person at Oregon last season.

And he’s noticed big strides this week compared to the first time he saw the players last summer.

“Seeing them play pickup twice since I’ve been here, guys look more aggressive and more sure,” said Lillard, who is scheduled to leave Boise today. “It seems like they’ve grown up a little bit. They all look older than they did last year, which they should. That growth and development is important and I think you can see it.

“Coach Leon Rice is a great coach and I see how he is with the team. They have a really good coaching staff … You have to give credit to the entire coaching staff because no one coach can go out there and make everybody better.”

As for his touchdown pass on The Blue? Video of the pass went viral and even drew a response from Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, who became friends with Lillard due to him growing up in Oakland and rooting for the Raiders.

It was a highlight of Lillard’s trip, which is fitting considering it was one of the first things he thought about when he found out Beckner was joining the Broncos last spring.

“Everybody knows about the blue football field,” Lillard said. “Last year when I first got here I wanted to see the field. I was like ‘man, Phil is really here at Boise State.’ It was pretty cool.

“It’s a big time campus and a big time football program over the years and I knew the impact he would have on the basketball program with recruiting, player development. I just knew he’d bring the right stuff to this program.”

Nobody would argue so far.

MOUNTAIN WEST RELEASES CONFERENCE BASKETBALL SCHEDULE: Boise State will open Mountain West play Dec. 27 against Colorado State and will finish the regular season with a home game against Wyoming on March 3, according to the Mountain West schedule released by the league on Tuesday.

Due to the unbalanced schedule, Boise State will not play at San Jose State and will not host Fresno State. They will play the other nine teams both home and away.

Boise State has two sets of back-to-back road games, at Wyoming and at Fresno State in January, and at New Mexico and at Utah State in February.

The Broncos have not released their non-conference schedule yet, but known games include road tilts at Oregon and SMU. Boise State also will participate in the Puerto Rico Tip Off in November.