NBA: Trail Blazers shut down Damian Lillard for rest of season—report
FILE – Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers looks on during the first half against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on March 08, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images/AFP
Star guard Damian Lillard is done for the season, with the Portland Trail Blazers choosing to shut him down as he nurses a calf injury, Bleacher Report reported Tuesday.
The news comes on the heels of a report by The Athletic on Saturday that the Trail Blazers were leaning toward sitting him for the remainder of the season as a precaution. Portland has seven regular-season games remaining.
The seven-time All-Star has been dealing with tightness in his calf and missed the Blazers’ past three games, including a Sunday/Monday back-to-back against Oklahoma City and New Orleans.
The Blazers (32-43) lost all three games and have dropped nine of their past 10. While not mathematically out of contention for a spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament, Portland sits 13th in the standings and is very likely out of the running with fellow starters Jerami Grant (quadriceps), Jusuf Nurkic (knee) and Anfernee Simons (foot) also sidelined.
Lillard, 32, has spent his entire 11-year NBA career with the Blazers, starting all 769 games he’s played. He has career averages of 25.2 points, 6.7 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game and ranks sixth all-time with 2,387 3-point baskets.
He was named an All-Star in 2022-23 and finished with a career-high 32.2 points per game plus 7.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 58 games. It was a bounce-back from a forgettable 2021-22, when he played just 29 games due to an abdominal injury and averaged 24.0 ppg.
