Portland Trail Blazers fans are looking forward to the start of the 2026-27 season for plenty of reasons. Among the most exciting and heartfelt is the return to the court of one Damian Lillard. The face of the franchise—not just today, but historically so, was traded in 2023, returned last season following a devastating injury with the Milwaukee Bucks, and has been waiting to take the floor ever since. Odds are, Lillard will be in Portland’s starting lineup come opening night.
Many of those same Blazers
fans are hoping for a return to classic form from Lillard: sweet distance shooting, 20+ points per game, team captaincy, and maybe a miracle buzzer-beater or two.
Hold on a minute, though. What if that doesn’t happen?
What if, instead, we get the Damian Lillard anyone would expect under these circumstances, an ultra-famous 36-year-old guard having just recovered from a career-shortening injury embarking on a farewell tour instead of a grand comeback. Would that necessarily be the worst thing in the world?
The intent of asking that question isn’t to slight Dame in the least. Like everyone else, I hope that he comes back full-force. But I thought struck me as I was considering Portland’s roster this week. Everything they’re doing makes so much more sense if he doesn’t. I’m not wishing a limited role on Lillard. I’m saying that, in some ways, forecasting this possibility makes sense.
First and foremost, Lillard being limited makes the acquisition of Ja Morant much clearer and cleaner. Now there’s a reason for the other superstar looking to recover his status to play in Portland. Instead of messing with a Lillard-Morant duo that duplicates offensive prowess, doesn’t provide enough shooting, and will be hard-pressed to play defense, the Blazers have Morant to pick up all the places that Lillard can’t. Ja doesn’t copy or enhance Dame, he becomes what the Blazers need Dame to be, leaving Lillard to play exactly where, and how, he can.
This also tightens up Portland’s backcourt rotation considerably. On paper, the Blazers have Lillard, Morant, Jrue Holiday, and Scoot Henderson at the point position. That’s four times as many players as they need starting, probably twice as many major candidates as they require to fill the spot.
If Dame is limited, the picture crystalizes. Morant starts at point guard backed up by Henderson with Holiday interceding when appropriate. Jrue, able to play and defend at the shooting guard position, moves over and alternates with Shaedon Sharpe. Two spots, four players, at least one of whom is interchangeable if anyone gets injured.
Beyond that, any of those two-guard combinations is better defensively than Lillard and Morant would be playing together. Sharpe would provide only marginal relief, but at least he’s taller. Henderson is a better defender yet, while Holiday is among the better defensive guards in the league. With a three-forward rotation of Toumani Camara, Deni Avdija, and Jeremy Sochan, Portland’s looking more secure. Throw in Donovan Clingan and they might even get away with their penchant for defensively-challenged guards.
The one area the Blazers might have problems yet is three-point shooting. Lillard’s career average of 37.1% behind the arc isn’t spectacular, especially for a shooter of his reputation, but it handily eclipses most of his teammates. Portland will miss the heck out of his range if he can’t play regularly.
Other than that, this eventuality makes a fair amount of sense. The Blazers will almost certainly be better if Lillard plays, but everything falls into alignment much easier if his contributions are more measured than the most optimistic among us are wishing for.
What say you? Is there any chance that the team and Lillard both know that his impact this year will be reasonably muted instead of unreasonably spectacular, as we’re used to? Share your thoughts and musings in the comments section below.
