Damian Lillard vows that his career didn’t end on Sunday night, when he fell to the court due to a non-contact injury that was diagnosed as a left Achilles tear.
While the Bucks guard and nine-time All-Star could end up missing all of next season, he has no plans to call it quits. Lillard expressed his feelings to head coach Doc Rivers on Tuesday, as Michael Marot of The Associated Press reports.
“He said two things, which I love,” Rivers said. “The first one, he just said, ‘I can’t believe I’m here.’ Then the second one is ‘I’m not going out this way.’ I can guarantee you he won’t, and that’s what I meant about his resolve.”
Milwaukee’s season ended in stunning fashion on Tuesday night, as the team squandered a seven-point lead late in overtime and lost to Indiana, 119-118, giving the Pacers a 4-1 series win. Another early postseason flame-out, coupled with Lillard’s injury, figures to lead to endless speculation about Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s future this offseason.
Lillard, who turns 35 in July, can’t control that. He’s instead focused on his lengthy rehab process.
“It’s amazing,” Rivers said. “He’s already talking about his return and being better and being ready. We had a long talk about that today as well.”
Lillard’s injury occurred in his third game back from a blood clot in his right calf, which sidelined him for more than a month. He’s due to make an estimated $54.1MM next season and holds an option projected at $58.5MM for the 2026/27 season.
Unfortunately he’s most likely done. I appreciate the sentiment but he’ll be 35 next year and has never been confused with Kobe.
Imo, he could get healthy and, at complete WORST, be a rich man’s Eric Gordon.
Lillards not done – not at all.
He already gets cooked on defense so this really won’t make him that much worse. He will still be able to shoot because he is not known for being an actual pg.
“Actual PGs” don’t have to rack up a bunch of assists even though Lillard has picked up his share over the years. Dame is/was one of the best there is/was at running the pick and roll.
Yes, but I never felt like Dame was running an offense or making anyone better. Did he make Lamarcus Aldridge better? I don’t think so. CJ and him didn’t really make each other better they were both good. CJ still playing the same in Nola. Giannis going to be Giannis.
Dame didn’t really develop a lob threat player or make others. Nurkic was always the same. Dame is good but I wouldn’t consider him a pg.
Yeah he’s finished as a high level player
And leave $112M on the table? No way
I don’t know if he’s done but Dame’s no longer an AS player worth 50M AAV.
Trading Jrue plus picks for Dame was the death knell for this team. Actually Jrue being rerouted to Boston was the death knell for this Bucks.
If the Bucks are willing to rebuild good chance the Nets will offer up to 7 1sts, and Nic Claxton, for Giannis.
Someone might bite on Dame. Houston obviously could use his offensive talents and have the defense to cover for him. Are they really going to sign Van Vleet for 30M again?
Otherwise you play out Dame’s contract for 2 seasons…
His playoff record over the years is just so amazing. At least people will enjoy the magical memories he gave them.
Let the speculation begin! What sort of package will it take together Giannis??
to get Giannis…
OKC I don’t see not having a good playoff run but if they did get surprising bounced in the next series.
Hartenstein, Topic, Kenrich Williams, 4 firsts and 4 seconds
No team is beating that kinda offer.
Hartenstein replaces Brook Lopez at centre, Topic replaces Lillard who is all but done, Kenrich is just salary matching and then a big haul of picks.
Green, Brooks, 4 firsts, 4 seconds. Green is better than anything you have OKC sending over and Brooks is on about the same level as Hartenstein. I think OKC would have to be willing to send at least Wallace and maybe Holmgren or Williams to beat Houston’s best offer, which they shouldn’t hesitate to do.
You say they shouldn’t hesitate to do but honestly this OKC team is so good and so young they really don’t need to do anything. Giannas is getting older he’s got obvious faults and there would have to be an adjustment and lag period. Honestly if the price was much more I’d say no
Green is not a high IQ player but at 23 or so years old he’ll put up numbers every night.
I think OKC has a “team” and should stay pat whereas Houston obviously needs an offensive upgrade though I think at PG.
Nets can offer 7 firsts and Nic Claxton. Nets under cap so it’s a straight up deal.
We
The Warriors can put anyone not named Steph or Dray on the table and beat 95% of teams packages for Giannis. Any kind of combination of players, GSW can beat almost all teams.
Without those two and Jimmy who you just resigned and can’t be traded yet, you’ve got what Kuminga who needs an extension and then scrubs. Kuminga himself is hardly even in the rotation now.
@Simmons>Russ , I read your trade proposals because they’re usually provocative.
But I have to remind you that you that 3-4 months ago you made several to the effect that the Warriors didn’t have the assets to acquire a difference-maker. I believe you’re wrong here, also. And Davey is right: the Warriors have the best possible package for Giannis because, one, it includes Jimmy Butler and, two, young starters… Which means Milwaukee can compete immediately.
1. The key: Butler would keep Milwaukee competitive for 2 years, unlike Jalen Green or Tyler Hero, or any of the matching dollar “ballast” that other teams like Houston or Miami would include.
2. Kuminga, Podz, and Moody are all 22 years old. Rookie C Quentin Post would also be appealing. All our vastly preferable to unknown FRP’s.
3. Warriors can offer their first round picks.
Jimmy can’t be traded for 6 months because of his extension and even then why does Milwaukee want a 35/36 year old Jimmy Butler with an injured Dame knowing they couldn’t get it done with Giannis in his prime. If you have Jimmy your not competitive your delaying the inevitable. Whereas guys you mentioned Green and Herro atleast start a rebuild.
As for Kuminga, he needs an extension and you can’t combine salaries in a sign and trade so straight away he’s also off the table.
Even if you keep Hika em resign him again can’t trade him for 6 months and is he worth good money cause atm he’s not even in the rotation…
Podz is nice but nah, Moody is just a role player and Post again promising rookie but let’s be realistic he’s probably worth a late first at best.
So yeah nah they can’t beat 90% of the league.
Houston has young guys like Green, Tari Eason, Jabari Smith and picks.
OKC might be willing to part with one or two of their young guys plus a good role player, they are so deep and also have more picks than anybody.
Not that isn’t going to happen but Atlanta could do Jalen Johnson, Zach Risacher, 2 first round picks this year and then another 2 future firsts.
Washington have a chance at first overall pick, Jordan Poole, Alex Sarr and then another first or two.
Smart Middleton Giannas and still young guys like Carrington Coulibaly and George.
It’ll be interesting I don’t see Giannas asking just yet but stranger things have happened
Simmons>Russ said:
> Jimmy can’t be traded for 6 months because of his extension.
Jimmy can be traded in late August. That’s a non-issue.
Mainly, you’re under-estimating Butler’s value, including the number of teams that Milwaukee could flip him to if they wanted or, more important, that GSW could involve in a multi-team deal with Milwaukee. With 2 more years on his contract, Butler has massive, fungible trade value.
Recently, Butler has shown why he’s still a Top 15 player. None of the other players you mention have near his trade value.
> Herro and Green start a rebuild.
These two will NEVER be the centerpiece in a deal of Giannis.
If you trade a $60M superstar like Giannis, you don’t want over-valued contracts like Herro’s and Green’s. Their recent playoff performances prove that they are not franchise players. These are 1-dimensional scorers. Best case, they’re #3 guys on a contending team. Miami has been unsuccessful at using Herro to upgrade its roster for 2 years. Green looks like this year’s Jordan Poole.
Agreed that Houston has the best young pieces. It they offered Sengun, they could have Giannis. Amen Thompson would also be coveted by Milwaukee, but he’s not enough on his own. But these are the 2 players Houston won’t move. After them, there’s a huge drop-off.
Jabari Smith and Tari Eason are nice rotation pieces. But, after 3 years, neither looks close to being a starter on a contending team. Smith’s stock has fallen dramatically this year and Eason looks like a career 6th-7th man. Cam Whitmore and Reid Sheppard may also be nice rotation pieces in the future, but they are secondary pieces.
He’s delusional as usual. The warriors are a dry well right now. They shot their shot already and got Himmy Buckets.
Yes. I can’t stand this Davey J guy. Huge Dubs homer who has no concept of how dry his cupboard is.
The Delusional duo of Davey J and aristotle, classic
Tall order for a small guard. Wish him the best. The nba is better when Dame is a part of it…the clock will chime Dame time again I hope…and pray
With you, I enjoy watching him play. Father Time is a tough opponent…
I don’t doubt Dame coming back and putting up points, but…he was already a massive liability on D, and he’s not going to come back from an achilles tear more mobile that before.
Milwaukee has to seriously consider blowing this roster up.
Dame will be out a year. Means next year is gone for Bucks too. I believe they can sign someone for part of his salary. As a medical exception…. not sure
mabe – By Dana Gauruder can tell us.
If so —— Bucks should make Grimes an offer. If they offer 50 mill for three years. I doubt Sixers would match. How else can Bucks save next year.
Too soon to talk Giannis trade.
Get well Dame real fans know you ain’t going out like this. Still have a few bro …..
Can sign someone up to the full MLE if he is determined to be out for the entire season by the NBA.
Dame is 35 real soon and will miss all of next season. Meaning he will be back on an expring 58mil deal playing at 36. Bucks are cooked.
I think Dame will be back but it won’t be the same. Age would’ve got to him and the injury, he will be a shell of himself much like Klay, DRose and John Wall. Because of his ability to shoot and rely less on athleticism and movement he should be able to atleast be an impact shooter off the bench like a prime Patty Mills.
But Doc is going out this way.
Fire him
Doubt it happens. Lillard missing significant time likely gives him the perfect excuse to survive another season. And the person dumb enough to hire him in the first place is likely to be the person dumb enough to keep him another year.
The owners hired him, not the GM. The owners let Horst fire their coaching hire once before (Kidd), and Giannis let him fire his (Griffin)
Unless he takes an absolutely gigantic pay cut, he’s done.
Blazers won that trade by far.
Doc Rivers’ annual press conference on what went wrong with his team.
Like I said, he’s a good regular season coach, but a poor playoff coach.
Damian Lillard has 110 million good reasons why he’s not going out this way lol
If they want to keep Giannis, I guess they need to salary dump Lillard?
A three/four/five team deal with Beal going to Milwaukee and Suns giving up maximum assets might be a win-win? Milwaukee would save on salary and get a non-injured player back, without giving up much draft assets.
But: the no trade needs to go. Is Milwaukee a team that Beal might be willing to (permanently!) give up his no-trade clause for?
Toxix for toxic contract can sometimes work. Only thing is: which rebuilding team is willing to take on Lillard and what would it take? Washington could send out a combination of Middleton, Poole and Smart to the suns or teams 4/5.
Beal has a no trade clause. Its basically pointless to include him in trade proposals.
That’s why I am saying: only include Beal in a trade if Beal is willing to give up his no trade clause permanently. I understood that’s possible.
You never know he is willing to do that to play with Giannis and try to revive his career.
Doc is an awful and overrated coach but this Milwaukee roster has gotten significantly worse every year since their championship. I don’t really blame Doc for the last 2 years of underperformance.
So much history here! That Jrue trade will be the biggest question mark from this era, the head coach carousel being the second.
They got a ring and felt like they could make a few more runs at it with the core, but Middleton was getting older and oft injured. You could also argue that the game was starting to change as the 3-pointer was NBA’s version of MLB’s loft angle, and it became the focus of contending teams. The Bucks weren’t really built for that game, so I can see why they chose offense over defense and had to pay the price for Dame. It simply didn’t gel the way people hoped, certainly not fast enough, and Doc wasn’t the answer to that problem.
Now here we are. No fan wants Giannis to go, but they don’t want him to stay on an uncompetitive team either, which is almost certain if he stays. I doubt management or the owners want him to go either, as you can’t replace a guy like him. If you have a Giannis, you have a chance, but you’d have to be incredibly lucky to sign a guy to replace Dame and another to replace Lopez and add another difference maker who can all walk on and make an immediate run without the benefit of picks!
People are on crack saying tyrese dad was wrong & giannis is classy
Gtfo
Giannis is a whining crybaby lil b*tch sore loser. All series he & bucks chirping away talkin smack. Meanwhile they got their butts whooped. Dame was in street clothes, not playing, jumped off the bench onto the court in the face of tyrese talking trash, in the middle of a gm, that was ok??? Gianis is class act?? They asked him if bucks still capable of title, he wouldnt answer. He is doomed. His tm is a mess, complete joke collapse laughingstock. Giannis confronted haliburton dad, a man twice his age, and half his height. 2 yrs in a row indy sent em packing. Giannis is frustrated, stop calling him classy
I agree. People need to see him for the lame whiner he is. He’s always whining and complaining but trying to come off like he’s so righteous. Like slamming the ladder when 9-5 arena workers were just trying to do their job. Or when he went crazy over the game ball when he scored 60 but couldn’t even be honest and was talking about he did all that because Dame passed Kyle Korver that night. I don’t think we should really care about athletes’ (legal) personal actions, but he seems like a fraud. I’m very eager to see if he starts asking for a trade after all that “I did this the right way” stuff after he won his championship.
I do think Hali’s dad had no business running up on Giannis though tbh.
The gm was over, his son had just completed massive comeback, he was excited! Giannis meanwhile was frustrated by the L, & sensitive to whatever pops said. But by no means was giannis’ actions ok as well. Just move on, instead he got in his face & then got into the face of other pacer players, cant handle losing
I mean….I understand being hyped for your son. But as a player, if you’re not out here battling, sit TF down and stay in a fan’s place.
Not okaying Giannis. Super sensitive. Can’t handle losing. But both things can be true.