Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard has reportedly torn his left Achilles tendon, according to ESPN. It’s news that the Bucks feared would be confirmed after an MRI Monday, and now the sobering reality has set in. Lillard will miss the rest of the playoffs for the Bucks, and will likely also miss a good chunk — if not all — of next season rehabbing from the injury.
The injury occurred just six minutes into the first quarter of Game 3 on Sunday. Lillard was attempting to corral an offensive rebound off a missed Gary Trent Jr. 3-pointer, but as he tried to accelerate, the All-Star guard crumpled to the ground, visibly in pain. Play continued as Lillard sat at the 3-point line, and as Kyle Kuzma tried to help him off the floor at the next dead ball, Lillard couldn’t put any weight on his left leg. The All-NBA guard was helped to the Bucks bench by the team’s medical staff as he hopped on one leg straight back to the locker room.
Lillard was ruled out of the game before the first half concluded, with what they called a “lower left leg injury.”
It’s a devastating blow for Lillard who just returned from a different setback, a blood clot that kept him sidelined for the last 13 games of the regular season and Game 1 of Milwaukee’s playoff matchup against the Indiana Pacers. Lillard’s return from the blood clot was incredibly quick, given other players, most recently Victor Wembanyama in February, had their season ended after the diagnosis. But Lillard was medically cleared to return to the court, and had played in each of Milwaukee’s last three games.
Damian Lillard’s injury is the latest knife twist in what has been a cruel ending to his prime
Sam Quinn
In the first two games back, it was obvious there was some rust Lillard needed to knock off, averaging just 10.5 points, six assists and three rebounds on 24% from the field and 18% from 3-point range. Those are incredibly uncharacteristic numbers for Lillard, who’s built a career off scoring in bunches and making opponents pay for leaving him even a sliver of room, especially from beyond the arc. But Lillard’s presence was a positive for Milwaukee, even if it didn’t show up in the boxscore. So to have his season end this way is incredibly unfortunate.
“I’ve seen injuries deflate teams. Tonight, that one hurt. I thought our guys tried, but it was tough,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said after the game Sunday. “All of them are in there at halftime in the training room. It’s really tough to talk to a team after that. My job over the next 40 hours is to get us upright to try to win one game in Indiana and try to get it back here. But my brain is in the same place where the players are — and that’s with Dame.”
It’s a depressing situation for Lillard, and equally dispiriting outcome for the Bucks, who are on the brink of elimination ahead of Game 5 in Indiana on Tuesday (Bucks +275 on the money line, per Caesars).
Looking beyond this season, it’s an even more shaky situation for Lillard, the Bucks and team superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. Lillard will be 35 years old next season and trying to return from an Achilles tendon tear, not an ideal combination for a team trying to win a championship. Antetokounmpo will be 31 by next January, still in the midst of his prime but with an aging, now injured co-star next to him. It’s a similar situation to when it was Khris Middleton lining up next to Antetokounmpo, who struggled to stay healthy in the years since Milwaukee won a title in 2021. Unfortunately, with Lillard’s injury, it will once again raise the question of Antetokounmpo’s future with the Bucks.
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