In late April, Damian Lillard suffered one of the worst injuries that several elite NBA players succumbed to at some point in their careers: the Achilles tear.

Lillard’s injury came unexpectedly during the Eastern Conference First Round series between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Indiana Pacers. Early in the first quarter of Game 4, Lillard suddenly fell to the floor, grabbed his lower left leg and ankle, and sat there in shock and disbelief as he waited for his teammates to help him.

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Two months later, the Bucks organization added salt to his injury, forcing Lillard out so they could make a trade for the Pacers center Myles Turner. But then, a glimmer of hope appeared in July as his former team, the Portland Trail Blazers, welcomed him back with open arms.

With the team’s renewed belief in him, Lillard, too, has earned confidence that he can regain his old All-Star self. But Lillard knows the road back to that form will be long.

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Thus, he is willing to go through the complex healing process one step at a time.

“I’m going to take my time to get all the way back, get it fully healed, get it strong, and feel confident on it,” he said on The Sideline with Andy Katz. “I want to get my body all the way back in shape so that when I return to the floor, I’m not coming back as a shell of myself. I plan to return and be myself.”

The pace of the game

Achilles injuries have become too common in today’s NBA. In the 2025 regular season alone, several tears have occurred, with players such as Dru Smith (Miami), James Wiseman and Isaiah Jackson (Indiana), and Dejounte Murray (New Orleans) sustaining this injury.

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Some had it worse, tearing their Achilles tendons at the worst possible time. Lillard, Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton also suffered this injury during the playoffs and finals.

Lillard believes this rise in Achilles injuries has something to do with today’s game play, highlighted by a faster pace, lots of jumping, running, and sudden direction changes. He added that other factors, such as training and travel, exacerbated this.

“The game is getting super fast, and you’re dealing with extremely high-level athletes.” he said.

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“You know how often guys train, and how much we play and travel and all of those things and changing direction and then stopping— the level we compete at is really hard on your body.”

New lease of life for Lillard

After signing the point guard on a three-year $45 million deal, Portland offered Lillard a new lease of life. The Trail Blazers must still be hoping to strike gold with Lillard, a valid assumption considering the nine-time All-Star’s caliber. In his 13th NBA season, he averaged 24.9 points and 7.1 assists per game.

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And Portland, which finished 12th in the Western Conference with a 36-46 record, needs all the help it can get, be it from stars or veterans.

But for now, Lillard is still taking in the feeling of his homecoming, expressing his gratitude for the chance to return to Portland, his home for 11 seasons.

“It’s been great. I’m not an overly expressive person, but I think in my adulthood — coming back here at this time, with the age of my kids, with where the team is — it just feels right,” he said. “It’s a blessing, man. I couldn’t be happier.

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Lillard is almost five months into his recovery and is likely to miss the entire 2025-2026 NBA season. In the meantime, he will be helping from the sidelines as a young Blazers team tries to turn things around this season. He hopes to bring back his superstar form as soon as he can.

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 23, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.