Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard “feels good” after having surgery for an abdominal injury this morning, and the timeline for him to be reevaluated has been shortened, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
The next evaluation of Lillard’s condition is now set for five-to-six weeks instead of the original projection of six to eight weeks. Whether he plays any more this year will depend on how he responds after the operation and whether Portland has a realistic chance to qualify for the playoffs.
Lillard said the injury has been bothering him for years and he considered surgery during the offseason. Instead, he participated in the Olympics, where he aggravated the condition, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
A six-time All-Star, Lillard’s numbers across the board have fallen this season. He’s averaging 24 PPG, his lowest scoring average since the 2014/15 season, while shooting 40.2% from the field and 32.4% from three-point range, both career lows.
Because Lillard’s absence will stretch past the February 10 trade deadline, Portland will face some difficult decisions over the next four weeks. Robert Covington and Jusuf Nurkic, who both have expiring contracts, are candidates to be moved, and the Blazers may listen to offers for CJ McCollum, who has been sidelined for nearly six weeks after suffering a collapsed lung.
Portland is holding on to the final play-in spot in the West at 16-24, one game ahead of the Kings and a game and a half in front of the Spurs and Pelicans.
Easy way out for Dame. He’s a great shooter, but he’s not a winner and definitely not a generational Superstar. Not even close…. And sick of talk of how much he has done for Blazers and Portland. It ahould be the other around – how much they and fans have done for him. He’s making all the money, calls all the shots, and treated like loyalty. He need to shut, be grateful, and work hardest going forward.
Wrong
What a horrible take lmfao.
Dude after that rant you’d think Lillard did to you what DeLonte West did to LBJ.
But…he’s treated like “loyalty.” So the rant has that going for it…”he need to shut…”
This is my favorite kind of basketball fan. The kind that because of their unhappiness with their own financial earnings, basketball players should shut up and dribble. I’m sure you’d be better off using your time to collect stamps or paint rocks rather than hate watching the NBA and leaving half baked comments on message boards
Dame hasnt won anything and I was fed up with Dame blaming everybody but himself for Blazers postseason failures. He was a total offseason distraction and look what happened to Blazers season. He was obviously not prepared or focused on this season. It’s also disappointing that his focus was on extension when he still has another 3 yrs left on his contract…. Finally, Dame simply has to take ownership and learn to win. It takes time to do it… LBJ did it in Miami and Giannis finally learned to last year. Playing great to win 1 postseason series and then not show up for the next series is not living up to generational superstar title.
Portland has the longest play-off streak… so he must be winning something…
Dame said he was losing patience and the org is taking actions. Also you ignore the fact that he is injured and also for a team that was optimized one way (all out offense) , it takes time to adjust with new coach to do the other thing… defense.
Won’t happen overnight. Dame is fully involved in making the necessary changes and has only spoken positively since.
As for playing great to win 1 postseason… in a small market like Portland… that’ll be way over acievement. There may only be a tiny sliver of an opportunity between when Curry, LBJ, and Durant have aged out and the next generation dynasty takes over.
It seemed to me he was trying his hardest not to be a distraction despite the sports media trying their hardest. Everytime they asked if he wanted to be traded he always said no, not now. He just wants a change of direction. For now what is his tenth season in the league the Blazers have stayed almost exactly the same. They keep trying to pound a square block in a round hole.
Dame failed POR in the summer, bad optics!
Shame on him for being a patriot and representing our country… so selfish. :)
It is indeed!
Really? He played for free to represent the U.S. on the world stage. I’m sure it looks good on his resume, but the NBA benefits and Portland does too for international audiences.
And Portland wasn’t expected to do much this season anyhow. New coach. Minor adjustments with trades.
Like. Whatever. Go play in the Olympics. He may have aggrevated the injury but that could have happened in a practice or preseason or during the season… stuff happens…