How much hope is there for a Damian Lillard return in the playoffs?
Jim Owczarski discusses just how realistic it would be for Damian Lillard to be back in the postseason for the Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks will begin a playoff series for the second consecutive season without one of their best players and all-stars, as point guard Damian Lillard remains out indefinitely after being diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in his right calf.
Initially thought to be a calf strain suffered on or around March 18, the swelling in Lillard’s calf was abnormal enough to warrant further testing. The team announced that a blood clot was found on March 25. Lillard immediately began treatment, which includes the use of blood thinners.
Lillard, who will turn 35 in mid-July, is expected to make a full recovery and resume his career.
When that is, however, remains undetermined.
Lillard can shoot and do some light running, but there has been no firm update since his diagnosis. Bucks head coach Doc Rivers has said on several occasions over the last three weeks that the results Lillard is getting from his weekly testing is positive, but no specifics have been provided.
Lillard has not traveled with the team since the diagnosis, either, as being sedentary for too long is not ideal for his condition.
The Bucks begin the playoffs on April 19 in Indianapolis. The NBA Finals begin June 5. A potential Game 7 would be held June 22.
Over the last decade, only one NBA player has returned to play in the same season following the discovery of a blood clot: Mirza Teletović.
Teletović was a role player for Brooklyn in 2014-15, averaging about 22 minutes per game off the bench when he was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs) in January 2015. He returned to the court three months later in April but played a total of 16 minutes over three playoff games.
Unfortunately, Teletović again suffered from blood clots in his lungs in 2017 while a member of the Bucks and the diagnosis ended his career.
Chris Bosh returned from a pulmonary embolism diagnosed in February 2015 to play the following season, but the diagnosis of DVT in his leg exactly a year after his first diagnosis also ended his career.
More recently, Brandon Ingram (shoulder, March 2019) and Ausar Thompson (lungs, March 2024) returned to play the following season.
Victor Wembanyama was diagnosed with DVT in his right shoulder in February, and he is anticipated to return to play next season.
Understanding that history – that return to play is typically six-to-eight months later – Rivers was asked on April 5 why he remained optimistic Lillard could return before the Bucks’ playoff run is over.
“(The timeline) definitely has changed, medically,” Rivers said that day in Miami. “Which is good. The location of it is very important as well. And it is, it’s lower. But, it still could be six months. We just don’t know.”
Damian Lillard playoffs
This could be the second straight year the point guard will miss games in the postseason due to his health. Last year, he missed two of the team’s six first-round games in the series loss to the Indiana Pacers while battling an Achilles injury.
He averaged 31.3 points in the four games he played.
Damian Lillard stats
Here are Damian Lillard’s stats this season. His 24.9 points per game are 10th highest in the NBA and his 92.1% free-throwing shooting is second-best:
- Games: 58
- Minutes: 36.1
- Points: 24.9
- FG%: 44.8%
- 3P%: 37.6%
- FT%: 92.1%
- Rebounds: 4.7
- Assists: 7.1
- Steals: 1.2
