Trail Blazers star point guard Damian Lillard is planning to have surgery soon to deal with lingering pain from his abdominal injury, sources tell Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Windhorst adds that Lillard may be able to return this season after the surgery, but that’s still up in the air.
According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Lillard will undergo surgery on Thursday and will be re-evaluated in six-to-eight weeks.
Haynes notes that Lillard saw specialists in St. Louis and Philadelphia recently and both agreed surgery was the best route to take. Lillard’s possible return to the court this season depends on his health and where the team is in the Western Conference standings, Haynes adds. Portland is currently 16-24, the No. 10 seed in the West.
Lillard missed five games at the beginning of December after an MRI revealed lower abdominal tendinopathy. He later stated that he’s been dealing with the injury for a few years and considered having surgery last offseason. However, he ended up participating in the Tokyo Olympics instead, winning a gold medal with Team USA, but he didn’t look like his normal dominant self. Within his column, Windhorst writes that Lillard aggravated the injury at the Olympics.
Prior to returning to the court last month, Lillard had a cortisone injection to deal with the pain in his abdomen. As we noted at the time, cortisone injections are typically short-term solutions, and the injury continued to bother Portland’s best player. A week ago the team announced that Lillard would miss at least three more games as he continued to struggle with the injury, and ultimately surgery was determined to be the best course of action.
The Blazers hold a 4-7 record without Lillard this season, but have won two in a row. On the season, the six-time All-Star and six-time All-NBA member has played 29 games (36.4 MPG), averaging 24 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 7.3 APG on .402/.324/.878 shooting. 24 points per game represent his lowest scoring average since 2014/15, and his shooting percentages from the field and from three are career-lows, so clearly the injury has impacted his performance.
With Lillard out and CJ McCollum sidelined with a collapsed lung, Portland has been leaning heavily on 22-year-old Anfernee Simons in January. Simons has shined through five games (37 MPG) this month, averaging 27.8 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 7.6 APG on .511/.446/.947 shooting. It’s a huge opportunity for the fourth-year guard, who’s set to become a restricted free agent this summer.
So… no Dame Lillard trade. Portland fire sale on everyone not named Dame? Then regroup with him in the offseason and see what he wants to do and if they really wanna keep him offer him 2 years at 50M lol.
If they have a firesale on everyone else what is Dame coming back to next season? Feel like they have to start with Dame and then have the Jusif Nurkic yardsale afterwards.
He may want to be a 1 franchise guy regardless of winning.
If they deal RoCo and Nurkic, they’ll get low to mid 20 1sts at least for them. CJ could be dealt to any number of teams. The KP for CJ would definitely change the dynamic in Portland. I’ve seen straight up and 3 team deals structured around those 2.
They need to decide on Powell or Simons moving forward. Neither is really suited to play the 3. Nance is undersized and doesnt stretch the floor. Little could be dealt for salary matching.
If they go fire sale and punt on this season, they could end up with a Top-6 pick. They could use acquired picks to move up and grab Paolo.
If they ended up with KP then you might have something.
KP
Paolo
FA wing (Warren, Ingles?)
Powell/Simons
Dame
Yeah I guess you’re right that, in some ways, this team kind of stinks whether or not they trade RoCo or Nurkic this year of this summer. In fact, if CJM and Dame are both out for most of the rest of the year they might not need to make any moves to effectively tank.
To me Simons (extremely small sample size) potential emergence means more to Portland possibly re-tooling around Dame than the potential return for anyone outside of maybe Powell. If Simons can emerge as an All Star caliber guard then you have a bridge to a post-Dame world.
If they can get a high lotto pick this Spring even better.
no Dame Lillard trade? Now THERE is shocking news. LLOLOLOLLOL .. Sun rises in West .. Lillard traded .. film at 11
A lost season for the trailblazers. they should tank and try to get a high draft pick.
Don’t think they have a choice, they ain’t gonna many games without Dame.
They could have had Simmons.
Simmons who also hasn’t played this year despite being healthy for the best Blazer in franchise history? No thank you!
He is not the best blazer in the franchises history
He is the best Blazer in terms of peak and talent, but Drexler reached the finals and Walton should be considered the best Blazer because of the championship.
I think Luke was referring to Greg Oden as the best Blazer of all time
Sam Bowie was the best blazer ever.
I would take Clyde “the glyde” Drexler any day of the week & twice on Sundays before Dame, I do like Dame, but man… seriously did you see Drex play at his apex?
Trade nurk nance Covington and Powell…CJ is a negative trade asset so shut him and dame down for the year, let simons and little play 35 minutes a game and try a new direction with Dame next season, maybe resign nurk and trade those other 3…? Just be smart and tank, seasons over
What difference does CJ being a negative trade asset be to his value to his team? Two different things.
If you’re so worried about money and what other teams think, shut down Simons, so it doesn’t take so much money to re-up him. He is locked in for next year, like other Blazers.
22/23 is when some space clears, and I am sure Simons & Little would like to eat that up.
Imagine the panic of Sixer fans now if the Lillard/Simmons trade was already made! But this should be expected of Lillard from now on.
I bet CJM holds up better… how many times can one get his lung injury?… A: IDK but one does not hear of it being a problem in sports.
Also, Simons has not been durable in the past. The prospects on his next contract varies widely, but he should have good odds in the covid/protocol era, given his noncollege background (he can stay isolated enough easily).
Simons is playing unbelievable. Curious how much of it will hold up. When he plays over 30 mins his stats jump up. Hard to determine how good McCullum will be when he returns. Nurkic has been subpar defensively and Nance Jr. just doesn’t seem ready to play. Covington is a lost cause. This has reset written all over it. I like Lillard and McCollum and prefer them in Portland, but changes are needed. Powell is the wrong fit too. I think Indiana and Portland could be good trade partners
Very small sample size. But if those Simons’ numbers stay at 75% of what they’ve been so far, then that’s a HUGE windfall for Portland. Opens up a lot of things for them this summer.
I was thinking the same… Lots of potential for a young player and Portland has done a good job giving him quality minutes over the years. He could sweeten that CJ – Simmons trade.
After another disappointing year, 76ers might come around to a
CJ + Simons Simmons trade
Win now veteran and the next generation potential swapped for a great player coming into his prime
Lucky for the Sixers that this trade did not happen
Lillard’s career is probably headed downward now, sad to say but trade him to a real contender and get some picks…the dream was already over in PDX but this puts an exclamation point on it. I agree Indy might be a trade partner, but not for Lillard. Clippers could make a competitive offer, as they appear to be shut down for this season as well.
He doesnt have the guts to play anywhere else. It was all a talk to get another extension.
If you ask me is a very unprofessional thing to do for a player to go gallivanting wit Team USA in the summer instead of getting himself operated & ready for the season with the team, that don’t forget that, pays his wages, as far as I know Team USA don’t pay nothing to him or POR… I will never understand players that put their national teams ahead of the team that actually pays their cheques… just very unprofessional!
Really disappointed in Dame for that!
Team USA is in the offseason. That’s like saying its very unprofessional for you to do something on your day off from work that isn’t for the company that pays you.
He gets paid to be fit, not waste time with Team USA!