Damian Lillard Sounds off on Critics of his Time With Bucks

Back on April 27, what had already been a rough and injury-marred ending to the season for point guard Damian Lillard got a whole lot rougher and more injury-marred. He had missed the final month of the regular slate because of blood clots in his calf but attempted to come back for the Bucks in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

In Game 3 against the Pacers, though, disaster struck--Lillard suffered a torn Achilles tendon, an injury that not only knocked him out for the postseason but pretty much ensured he would not play in 2025-26, either.

It was not known at the time, but the Bucks would later choose to exercise their right to waive and stretch Lillard, cutting him off the roster and spreading his remaining salary over the next five seasons. Thus ended the tenure of a future Hall of Famer, one whose performance in Milwaukee can only go down as a decided disappointment.

Except that Lillard, who signed a three-year contract to go back to Portland, does not see it that way.

"I think when people look back it, people will respect my time there," he told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "At the end of the day – before I got there, who was at point guard producing the way I produced? I mean, there was nobody.

"And they won it before I got there, but as far as me personally, I thought I showed up regardless of what my circumstances might have been personally or whatever the case may be. I showed up, I did what I had to do. I adjusted. I showed up. I never shied away from anything."

Bucks fans might be quick to point out that, in fact, the Bucks had a pretty good point guard--Jrue Holiday--who was moved for Lillard. But Lillard was trying hard to put a positive spin on the two years he spent with the Bucks, pointing to the injuries to both Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2024 and to Lillard himself in 2025 that held the team back.

"I think you gotta be a little bit lucky to win big. You gotta be healthy and you gotta be playing your best at the right time and I think we just had bad luck," Lillard said.

"My first year, people complained a lot, the Bucks this, the Bucks that, but we was the two seed pretty much the whole season until the very last game and end up being the three seed. Then we played without Giannis the whole first round. He didn’t play in the first round. I missed two games in the first round. ... Then this year, I missed Game 1, played Game 2 and Game 3 and get hurt at the start of Game 4. So, I mean, the healthy part we just didn’t have."