The 2024-25 NBA season wasn’t a good year for Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton . All three of them suffered from Achilles injuries during the 2025 playoffs and have had to take some serious time off to recuperate. Achilles injuries are notoriously career enders but Lillard is a firm believer that he will be better than before on return to action.
Advertisement
Unlike Tatum and Haliburton, Lillard didn’t receive full reassurance from his team that they’d stick with him during his recovery. Instead, the Milwaukee Bucks waived Lillard at their leisure to bring on Myles Turner on a lucrative 4-year $108 million contract.
Fortunately, everything worked out for Lillard, since this created the avenue for him to return to the Portland Trail Blazers. He has been with the team the entire year and even though he hasn’t suited up in a single game yet, it feels just like home.
“I’m in the locker room with them, the team events, all of those things,” Lillard told Casino.ca. “I’ve definitely kept connected to the team. I try not to just be the veteran guy on the team that’s always having something to say. I do a lot of listening, and when guys have questions for me, I’ll share what I think or what I see. I’ve definitely stayed connected to the team for sure,” he revealed.
Lillard has done his best to be a strong voice and figure within the Trail Blazers. However, he has loftier expectations than simply being a playing Master Oogway.
He wants to return to the court as Damian Lillard, the perennial All-Star. Lillard has put countless hours of work in hopes to reach that stage once again and is quite confident about his inevitable return to status quo.
“I think it’s all just building me up to get ready to go back and be the best version of myself when it’s time to play again,” Lillard said. “It is hard to watch and not be able to do what I’ve done for the last 14 years, but because of the age that it happened at, I understand the value in what I’m going through right now, and it’s my job to to also be making sure that I’m prepared when the time comes to go out there and be me.”
Lillard is currently 35 years old. He isn’t getting any younger, but he still has plenty left in the tank. Besides, it’s not impossible to return from an Achilles injury. Kevin Durant did it. Tatum is another prime example; in fact he returned less than 10 months after suffering from the injury.
Lillard and the Blazers already declared this season to go directly into recovery, but it will be truly amazing to see the version of Lillard that will be available on opening night of the 2026-2027 NBA season.
