Damian Lillard 'Most Likely' Out for Blazers Season Due to Injury: Not His 'Decision'
The Portland Trail Blazers' decision to sit Damian Lillard for the remainder of the season was not his choice.
Appearing on The Dan Patrick Show (starts at 5:40 mark), Lillard said his season is "most likely" over and he "wouldn't say it's my decision at all."
The seven-time All-Star did explain the decision to sit him out may be the team protecting him from himself because the Blazers have "had so many injuries" over the course of the season.
"Every time I've had some type of injury like that kind of get irritated or aggravated or something like that, it's come from just like a heavy load and stress and going out there and trying to go above and beyond," he said.
B/R's Chris Haynes reported on Tuesday that Portland would hold Lillard out for the final 10 days of the season after the team was essentially eliminated from playoff contention.
Lillard dealt with a calf injury at times during the 2022-23 season, and he will finish with 58 games played assuming he doesn't suit up again. He told Patrick that his calf had begun to tighten up again recently.
The seven-time All-Star also played just 29 games during the 2021-22 campaign, which was the first time since entering the league in 2012 that he played fewer than 66 games in a season.
While injuries have been a concern of late for Lillard, he is still arguably the greatest Trail Blazer in franchise history. He became the team's all-time leading scorer during the 2022-23 season and ended up averaging 32.2 points, 7.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game before he was shut down.
The future Hall of Famer is the most important player in Portland's offense, but the team still has other options to turn to while he is out.
Look for Anfernee Simons, Shaedon Sharpe and Matisse Thybulle to see more playing time in Lillard's absence.
The Blazers (32-44) haven't officially been eliminated from the play-in tournament, but they are 5.5 games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for the No. 10 seed with six games remaining.
