Bucks confirm Lillard out for rest playoffs, status for next season unclear

Steve Megargee · The Associated Press

· Posted: Apr 28, 2025 5:02 PM EDT | Last Updated: 28 minutes ago

Damian Lillard has a torn near Achilles tendon, confirming the Milwaukee Bucks' worst fears aft the seven-time all-NBA defender was helped disconnected the tribunal Sunday night.

The Bucks announced the severity of Lillard's wounded pursuing an MRI connected Monday.

The wounded knocks Lillard retired for the remainder of the post-season and could enactment his presumption for adjacent play successful uncertainty arsenic well. When Kevin Durant tore his Achilles tendon successful the 2019 NBA Finals, helium ended up missing the full 2019-20 season.

The Bucks had been bracing for this result aft Milwaukee's 129-103 nonaccomplishment to the Indiana Pacers successful Game 4. Milwaukee trails the Indiana Pacers 3-1 successful their best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series. Game 5 is Tuesday astatine Indianapolis.

Lillard's wounded occurred successful his 3rd crippled since coming backmost from heavy vein thrombosis successful his close calf.

"This is simply a pugnacious one, honestly," Bucks caput manager Doc Rivers said aft Sunday's game. "Blood clot, followed by this. It's conscionable tough. That's wherefore you person teammates and household astir him. He's conscionable specified a large freaking dude, connected a hoops level, but much importantly arsenic a teammate and a begetter and each that stuff."

Lillard, 34, was down the 3-point enactment astir the apical of the cardinal midway done the archetypal 4th erstwhile the shot bounced toward him. Lillard utilized his near manus to extremity the shot toward teammate Gary Trent Jr., past went down and grabbed the little portion of his near leg. He continued to beryllium connected the level arsenic play resumed connected the different extremity of the court.

When Lillard got up, helium couldn't enactment value connected his near leg. He yet was helped disconnected the tribunal and into the locker room.

"He's 1 of the toughest guys I know, truthful erstwhile helium stays down, you consciousness for him," said teammate Pat Connaughton, who played with Lillard successful Portland and Milwaukee.

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Lillard's toughness had been evident from the information that helium was playing successful the archetypal spot aft missing the Bucks' last 14 regular-season games with heavy vein thrombosis, an abnormal clot wrong a vas wherever the congealing of humor blocks the travel done connected the mode backmost to the heart.

He was taken disconnected blood-thinning medicine and cleared to resume afloat hoops enactment aft the regular season. He missed Game 1 of the Pacers bid to enactment his mode backmost and past returned successful Game 2.

"I person truthful overmuch respect for him," teammate and two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo said. "A batch of radical don't spot what Dame had to woody with, but we're astir him each azygous day, and it's hard. It's hard being successful his position. He's 1 of the toughest, mentally toughest guys I've ever been around. That's wherefore helium is who helium is."

Lillard ranked 10th successful the NBA successful scoring (24.9) and 10th successful assists (7.1) this play portion earning his 10th all-star crippled selection. He made an extraordinarily accelerated instrumentality from his heavy vein thrombosis to rejoin his teammates for the playoffs.

While talking to reporters earlier the playoffs, Lillard said doctors had told him his lawsuit was unusual.

"They were conscionable like, 'We don't spot this,'" Lillard said then. "For me, I was conscionable like, it was a antithetic acquisition for maine due to the fact that I went successful determination a clump of times and it was the aforesaid size. So, I'm like, it didn't look that special, and past it conscionable reached a constituent wherever it conscionable got a batch smaller retired of nowhere."

Now helium faces an adjacent longer betterment portion dealing with a abstracted contented requiring surgery.

"I judge he's going to flooded each obstacle that's enactment successful beforehand of him," Antetokounmpo said. "Everybody's going to beryllium determination for him. No substance what the obstacle is for him, he's going to flooded and we're going to assistance him flooded it."

Lillard's concern continues the Bucks' tally of atrocious luck with post-season injuries since winning their 2021 title.

Khris Middleton missed an full seven-game Eastern Conference semifinal nonaccomplishment to Boston successful 2022 with a sprained medial collateral ligament. Antetokounmpo bruised his little backmost successful Milwaukee's archetypal playoff crippled successful 2023 and didn't instrumentality until Game 4 of a first-round bid it mislaid 4-1 to Miami.

In the Bucks' 4-2 first-round nonaccomplishment to Indiana past year, Antetokounmpo didn't play astatine each due to the fact that of a calf strain, and Lillard missed 2 games with an Achilles injury.