Damian Lillard Injury Hurts Bucks in More Ways Than Expected

Nine-time All-Star Milwaukee Bucks point guard Damian Lillard may have completely changed the roster's outlook when he tore his Achilles tendon in Game 4 of the club's first-round loss to the Indiana Pacers.

Lillard's expected recovery timeline could sideline him for the duration of the 2025-26 NBA season. As a soon-to-be-35-year-old small guard (he's 6-foot-2), there's no guarantee that he will ever recapture his pre-injury athleticism, which had already diminished. A lot of players lose some lateral mobility and scoring efficacy following an Achilles tear.

But the Lillard issue goes deeper than his own availability. Essentially, it removes perhaps general manager Jon Horst's last critical major trade asset he had at his disposal to add big roster pieces around superstar two-time MVP power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Per Sam Amick, Eric Nehm, and David Aldridge of The Athletic, Lillard's questionable long-term outlook makes him virtually untradeable.

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"What’s more, the Lillard injury made a challenging situation even worse," noted Amick, Nehm and Aldridge. "As we reported earlier this month, the prospect of trading Lillard this summer as a way of reshaping the roster yet again was expected to be discussed if he had stayed healthy. We’ll never know where those talks might have led, but they’re out of the question now."

The former seven-time All-NBA honoree is owed an estimated $112.6 million on his maximum salary across the next two seasons — and during one of those seasons, he likely won't even be available at all. Without trading serious draft equity (which the Bucks don't have), it will be near-impossible to move off his money.

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Losing his best teammate could motivate Antetokounmpo to officially demand a trade out of town. The 6-foot-11 superstar remains one of the league's best players, and at age 30, remains at least near the peak of his athletic powers.

There's a chance he could age badly as his athleticism declines, given that Antetokounmpo has no 3-point shot (but a solid midrange portfolio). Still, plenty of win-now clubs would be happy to trade major pieces for the 2021 Finals MVP.

For the 48-34 Bucks, Lillard averaged 24.9 points on .448/.376/.921 shooting splits, 7.1 assists and 4.7 rebounds across his 58 healthy regular season contests. He struggled with another scary health issue, a blood clot in his right calf, that knocked him out of the last month of the regular season, and impacted his contributions when he did return to the floor against Indiana.

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