On Wednesday, the Portland Trail Blazers announced that Damian Lillard would undergo further evaluation and consultation for a persistent abdominal injury their superstar guard suffered over the summer while playing with the Team USA in the Olympics. The recurring injury has forced Lillard to miss eight games this season.
Lillard will also miss Portlands’s next three games due to his recurring abdominal issues. Coach Chauncey Billups remained coy as recently as Tuesday on a timetable for Lillard. Still, he said that the franchise would develop the best plan possible for Lillard to return healthy, whether through surgery or rehab. Lillard will be reevaluated sometime next week.
“I think what we’re gonna do is just kind of meet, put all our heads together here soon and then talk through some of those things,” Billups said, via The Oregonian. “I think that’s probably gonna be the route that we go if he doesn’t get some kind of relief there. Because I can only imagine how frustrated he is. We all know that this dude wants to play every game and play every minute of every game.”
Lillard has averaged 24.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game on career-low 40.2 percent shooting from the field and 32.4 percent shooting from long distance this season. The Blazers are 2-7 without Lillard and have lost 14 of their last 18 games, including four out of their previous five headed into their Wednesday game against the Miami Heat (23-15).
