Damian Lillard has had a tough season so far. Lillard struggled with the Portland Trail Blazers this season and hadn’t been performing at the level that we had become familiar with. And recently, he suffered a significant abdominal injury that has affected his play and now kept him sidelined for quite some time.
One analyst even believes that Damian Lillard may have played his last game this season already. Bleacher Report’s Sean Highkin wrote about Lillard’s recent abdominal injury and the extended period of time off he has had over the last few weeks and speculated that Lillard’s final game for the season may have already happened.
“Don't be surprised if Damian Lillard has played his last game of the 2021-22 NBA season.”
– @highkin
(Via https://t.co/4DGRBy9LdO) pic.twitter.com/tVGv3F1lSu
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) January 10, 2022
Don’t be surprised if Damian Lillard has played his last game of the 2021-22 NBA season.
As the Portland Trail Blazers sink lower toward the bottom of the Western Conference standings, Lillard continues to deal with a case of lower abdominal tendinopathy that’s had him in and out of the lineup and playing well below his All-NBA standard.
Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups spoke recently about the injury and suggested that if Lillard doesn’t find relief through recovery methods and the extended resting period, then the Blazers will be ready to sideline him for the rest of the season in order to let him recover.
“I think that’s probably going to be the route that we go if he doesn’t get some kind of relief there,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said last week when asked directly about the possibility of shutting Lillard down for an extended period of time.
Lillard has struggled this season, and the injury has only made things worse for him. And given how important Dame is to the Trail Blazers franchise, they will not want to risk further aggravating his injury. On top of that, the 76ers do want to land Damian Lillard, and a major injury will only lower his value.
Going forward, we will have to watch closely to see how Damian Lillard’s situation with the Trail Blazers develops. If Dame is able to recover soon enough, then the Blazers will want to have him back in order to recover their season and even try to make a playoff run.
