PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — At one point after Damian Lillard returned to the Portland Trail Blazers, he was chatting with coach Chauncey Billups about what his role with the team would be this season as he recovers from an Achilles injury.
Billups had joked that Lillard would be the “highest-paid assistant coach in the league” but the nine-time All-Star expressed concern that he didn't want to overstep in his guidance of the team's young players.
"And I’m
saying, Dame, you’re Dame. You’re OK, bro. Just be you,” Billups said. “Just be who you always are. They’re going to be looking for that direction. And so he’ll find his way as he's trying to get himself back healthy.”
Lillard played for Portland for his first 11 NBA seasons before he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks before the start of the 2023-24 season. Lillard tore his left Achilles tendon during Milwaukee's first-round playoff series against the Indiana Pacers earlier this year and was subsequently waived.
That paved the way for his return to the Blazers, who signed him in July to a three-year, $42 million deal.
Lillard is in a unique position with the Blazers, back on the team but sidelined for the season because of his injury. So naturally there are questions about how he fits into the scheme of things.
“He is not a coach. He’s a player, and he’s a great player still. And there’s a different level of connectivity that comes with that, you know?” Billups said at the start of the team's training camp. “Everybody loves Dame. He’s very sensitive to not overstep but we all know Dame, and I told him that's not even possible because we see the game, we see this thing, the same way.”
The role, it seems, is pretty much undefined.
"Like Chauncey said, I guess I’m going to be like another assistant coach. But whatever I can be to the team at this point, that’s what I’ll be, but I’ll definitely be there," Lillard said.
Lillard is beloved in Portland. During his final season with the Blazers, he averaged a career-high 32.2 points and became just the seventh player in NBA history to score more than 70 points in a game when he finished with 71 against the Houston Rockets.
It was just one of many career highlights for a player who would often hit a clutch shot and then point to his wrist indicating “Dame Time.”
Lillard holds franchise records for points (19,376) and 3-pointers (2,387). He had five games of 60 or more points with Portland.
He was the 2013 Rookie of the Year and was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team in 2021. He won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
But probably his defining moment came in 2019, when he hit a 37-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to clinch Portland’s first-round series win over Oklahoma City. Mobbed by his teammates on the court, the camera focused on Lillard's face. His expression said it all: underestimate Dame at your own peril.
Lillard said he doesn't plan on playing this season. Asked before training camp if he'd reconsider if he was close to healthy and Portland was the No. 1 seed going into the playoffs, he joked, “if the team’s the one seed going to the playoffs, then they've probably got it.”
“I’ve been running. I’ve been shooting. I think it’s at the stage where I can do a lot. But it’s tricky because with this injury, what I’ve learned is you get to a point where you can do a lot of these things, but the tendon is not strong enough to stand up to it like it normally would be able to, like doing basketball activities," he said. "So it’s a long period of being stuck right here."
In the meantime, he can be there for the team's younger players, including Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson, Toumani Camara and Deni Avdija.
Henderson is sidelined with a left hamstring tear and will miss the start of the season. As he rehabs from the injury, Lillard can lend his advice but emphasized it won't be too heavy-handed.
"I’m rehabbing, he’s going to be rehabbing and trying to get back to full health. But I’m not going to be all in his ear, like I just know everything. But there's a lot that I can share with him,” Lillard said. “As a young point guard, I know the desire, I’ve been there — to want more for yourself and want to grow, want to prove yourself. I’ve been through that process. I’ve been through the struggles. ... I know what it’s like off the floor when you've got people saying what you need to do and what's expected. I know that I could help take some of that weight off his shoulders.”
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