Is Damian Lillard playing this season? Trail Blazers legend came home in trade but deals with injury news
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Is Damian Lillard playing this season? Trail Blazers legend came home in trade but deals with injury news originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Damian Lillard is back in Portland.
The Trail Blazers made sure of that in the offseason when they acquired the legendary point guard from the Milwaukee Bucks.
After his detour to play with Giannis Antetokounmpo for a few seasons, the Blazers brought Lillard back to the place where most of his NBA story had been written.
Lillard, though, hasn't been playing. The Blazers are in the playoffs, but Lillard can only be a mentor right now.
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Is Damian Lillard playing this season?
No, Lillard isn't playing in the 2025-26 season at all. That's already been made official.
He tore his Achilles playing in the 2025 playoffs for the Bucks.
While that's not an impossible injury to come back from in a year's time, the Blazers decided at Lillard's age that it'd be better to let him take this entire season off.
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He'll still be with the Trail Blazers next season, and he'll have a chance to add a cool final chapter to his Portland career.
Without Lillard, the rest of the Blazers have grown up, led by rising star Deni Avdija.
Maybe Lillard's leadership from the sideline will be enough to help Portland make some surprise noise in the 2026 playoffs.
