Star point guard Damian Lillard will miss at least three more games as he continues to deal with lower abdominal tendinopathy, the Trail Blazers announced today in a press release.
According to the team, Lillard is undergoing further evaluation and consultation on his injury and will be reevaluated next week. He has been ruled out for Portland’s games on Wednesday (vs. Miami), Friday (vs. Cleveland), and Sunday (vs. Sacramento), and there’s no guarantee he’ll be ready to go after that.
As Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian wrote on Tuesday, the Blazers are considering the best course of action for how to handle Lillard’s abdominal injury, which has been a recurring issue. Head coach Chauncey Billups said there haven’t been discussions about Lillard undergoing surgery or being sidelined for an extended period, but that possibility isn’t entirely off the table either.
“I think what we’re gonna do is just kind of meet, put all our heads together here soon and then talk through some of those things,” Billups said on Tuesday. “I think that’s probably gonna be the route that we go if he doesn’t get some kind of relief there. Because I can only imagine how frustrated he is. We all know that this dude wants to play every game and play every minute of every game.”
Lillard has apparently dealt with the abdominal issue for multiple years, but it seems to have become more of a problem this season. He has missed several games already due to the injury and his numbers are down across the board — his 24.0 points per game represent his lowest scoring average since 2014/15, and his shooting percentages of 40.2% on field goals and 32.4% on threes are career lows.
Please no All Star Team for Dame. Not this year…
Just sit out the rest your career, Lillard…be as effective as in Portland.