For the second year in a row, the Milwaukee Bucks will start the playoffs with one of their two stars on the bench.
The important news (and good news) is that “Damian Lillard has made significant improvement on his deep vein thrombosis in his right calf,” the Bucks announced Tuesday. However, he will not be cleared to play on Saturday when the Bucks tip off the playoffs in Indiana, according to multiple reports.
“Damian’s most recent weekly scan shows that his injury has significantly improved which will enable him to move ahead safely with increased basketball activity,” Bucks General Manager Jon Horst said in a statement. “Damian’s health remains our No. 1 priority. We have followed strict protocols and will continue to do so. We are pleased with the positive news about Damian’s progress.”
Lillard has been doing some shooting and light running, but not full contact in practice yet as he works toward a return. First-round series can drag out with stretches of multiple days off (only the date and time of the first game of this series is officially set), and we also don’t know exactly what Lillard’s recovery timeline is (there may not be one, this is a relatively unique situation). This means that it’s possible Lillard will return later in the series.
This season, Lillard averaged 24.9 points and 7.1 assists a game, shooting 37.6% on 3-pointers. The Bucks still had a very strong +9 net rating in the minutes that Giannis Antetokounmpo was on the court without Lillard. However, Antetokounmpo can’t play every minute, and in the minutes he and Lillard were both out, the Bucks had a -2.4 net rating. Milwaukee was 3-1 against the Pacers in the regular season.
