2:51pm: The Trail Blazers have confirmed that Lillard’s season is over, announcing the news in a press release.
“(Lillard) has met several key performance benchmarks to date and will continue end-stage rehab over the next few weeks,” the team said in a statement.
8:57am: Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard will miss the remainder of the season as he continues to recover from abdominal surgery, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Sources tell Charania that Lillard is “making tremendous progress” and looks good in workouts, but Portland has decided to have him sit out the remaining 12 games on the team’s regular season schedule.
The news comes as no surprise. If the Blazers were in the playoff picture, it might be a different story, but the club pivoted to retooling mode when it traded CJ McCollum, Norman Powell, and Robert Covington away prior to last month’s deadline and is prioritizing lottery positioning rather than pushing for a play-in spot.
The club hasn’t issued a recent update on Jusuf Nurkic, who is sidelined due to plantar fasciitis, but it won’t be a shock if he is also ruled out for the rest of 2021/22.
The Blazers, who will continue to take an extended look at some of their young players down the stretch, are currently 26-44 and have lost 10 of 11 games since shutting down Nurkic at the All-Star break. As our reverse standings show, they’d be seventh in the draft lottery standings if the season ended today.
Definitely gonna be a huge summer for the Blazers. Prime chance to land a marquee player in free agency plus they have a top10 pick & the chips/motivation to make a big trade
After they match a Simons contract they really won’t have that much left. I don’t think Simons, nurkic and like 10 and 8 get you a real superstar
Lilliard already has a long term contract. NO extension for him this offseason. There is simply no reason for it. Let him earn it on the court. Even Curry got his extension this past offseason with only 1 year left.
Some would say he has already earned it. They are not going to find any miracle cures for what ails them in this years free agent class. Only reason to not extend him is that hampers his trade value. At this point they should move and so should Lillard. Great player who deserves to be somewhere that there team is on the same timeline.
But Lilliard doesnt want to go anywhere. He’s one of tbose guys adverse to changes. As great as he is, he needs to be challenged within the organization. Everybody from top to bottom and close to him are just order takers, and say what he likes to hear.
@Michol
How do you assume he’s adverse to change? Maybe, like Giannis and alllll of those lifers in the past we glorify, he likes Portland and wants to win there vs chasing a chip?
Who would say an NBA player earns future paychecks with his past work?
I get that this is how bad teams stay bad but is this something anyone recommends if you ever want a good team?
I just can’t imagine signing Lillard based on what he did when I look at the other ways to spend that money.
Give Kris Dunn more minutes
You really want Chet, don’t you?
A top ten pick is a solid pick. But I don’t see a contender in Portland any time soon. Who knows Dame could ask for a trade. Let Blazers rebuild.
No I don’t want him on Knicks ….
Yeah weren’t you the guy begging for Dinwiddie?!!! Look what he did in Washington. I knew then you didn’t know anything about team building. Knicks shouldn’t pursue Lillard, but it would ne just like your owner to trade the team for this washed up player. He’s a Robin now.
Stop showing your ignorance lol.
I guess you don’t keep up with real news. Dinwiddie is Mavs closer. You may try and look up his trade there. And what he’s done since getting there.
They just clown themselves all the time ….
This is atruGenius……
yeah 6 games…hell 0f a sample size
I had him out a long time ago. Coming back from abdominal surgery is tough if you have a desk job, let alone play basketball.
Dame had no interest in this season as soon as he chose to go to the olympics last summer instead of getting the op & be ready to roll, so it makes no difference to him to play or sit out, gets paid the same!
Comment: Big loser? Chicago Bulls. If Portland would of made the playoffs they would of gotten Portland’s first round pick. It might actually be better for the Bulls now that I think of it because I think it turns into a 2023 first round pick and they don’t have theirs for next year anyway having traded it for Vujevic.