Injured Damian Lillard is grateful to be ‘back home’ with the Trail Blazers

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – It hit Damian Lillard as he drove home with his kids after signing a contract to return to the Portland Trail Blazers.

He was coming home.

Lillard’s three children, Damian Jr., 7, and twins Kalii and Kali, 4, accompanied him to sign his three-year, $42 million deal with the Blazers over the weekend. The contract includes a no-trade clause and he can opt out after two seasons.

“Just knowing that I’m going to be back home for all parts of my life, with my kids, playing for the Trail Blazers, driving on the same streets that I’ve driven on pretty much my entire adulthood, my whole family being here, my mom, my brother, my sisters, all my friends around the city of Portland,” he said. “All of those things count. I wasn’t expecting it to happen so soon.”

Lillard made his fist public comments about the deal at a news conference on Monday night with Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and general manager Joe Cronin.

Lillard played for Portland for his first 11 NBA seasons before he was traded, at his request, to the Milwaukee Bucks before the start of the 2023-24 season.

A nine-time All-Star, the 35-year-old Lillard is beloved in Portland, known for pointing to his wrist to signify “Dame Time” after making big shots.

But he’s not going to be be back on the court at the Moda Center any time soon.

Lillard tore his left Achilles tendon during a first-round playoff series against the Indiana Pacers and required surgery that will likely sideline him for the 2025-26 season.

The Bucks waived him earlier this month and stretched the remaining $113 million on his contract over five years.

“I told him that this year he’s going to be the highest-paid assistant coach in league history because I’ll be putting in the work every day,” Billups said.

Lillard didn’t rule out the possibility of coming back this season, but Cronin said the team would wait “as long as it takes.”

“My prideful self would be thinking differently, but I think with age, you get wiser,” Lillard said. “Like Joe said, it’s going to be ultimately what’s best, I think, to take the as much time as possible to make sure that I’m right, that’s what I’ll do.”

Lillard ranked 10th in the league in scoring (24.9) and assists (7.1) this past season while earning his ninth All-Star selection. But he was limited to 58 games by deep vein thrombosis.

He averaged a career-high 32.2 points his final season in Portland. That season, he became just the seventh player in NBA history to score more than 70 points in a game when he finished with 71 against the Houston Rockets.

Portland won only four playoff series during Lillard’s tenure, getting to the Western Conference finals once.

Lillard always insisted there are no hard feelings over his separation with the Blazers. He wanted to try and chase a championship with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks, while Portland was focused on developing young players like Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe.

Lillard, who has a signature shoe deal with Adidas, hinted during an event at the company’s North American headquarters in 2024 that he might be willing to return to the Trail Blazers. He never imagined that an injury would speed up the timeline.

The No. 6 overall pick in the 2012 draft by Portland, Lillard holds franchise records for points (19,376) and 3-pointers (2,387). He had five games of 60 or more points with Portland.

For his career, Lillard has averaged 25.1 points and 6.7 assists. He was the 2013 Rookie of the Year and was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team in 2021. He won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

Lillard said his kids finally understood the significance of his homecoming during that drive home over the weekend.

“I got to a red light, and I just turned around and my daughter was looking at me and I told her,” Lillard said. “And she was like, ‘Wait, so, like, we don’t have to get on an airplane to Milwaukee no more?'”