Why Damian Lillard Returned To Trail Blazers For $42 Million With An Updated Injury Rehab Timeline

Damian Lillard has confirmed his return to the Portland Trail Blazers after signing a three-year, $42 million contract with them. Following this news, Shams Charania, ESPN's senior NBA Insider, appeared on SportsCenter and revealed the main motivation why Lillard rejoined the Trail Blazers altogether. 

He claimed that Lillard wants to be a family man, especially during his rehabilitation from injury, and the Trailblazers were the only team that allowed him to do that with his family, who stay in Portland.

"Being home in Portland, being back with his three kids, was by far the biggest, most important factor in Damian Lillard returning to re-sign with the Portland Trail Blazers. He was going to spend the year rehabbing his Achilles tear in the Portland area anyway. So, returning to the Blazers franchise, even though he requested a trade just two years ago, was something he deeply cared about."

"Boston, Minnesota, and dozens of other teams had minimum and mid-level exception offers out to Damian Lillard in the last several weeks. But I'm told Lillard as well as Joe Cronin, the Blazers GM and head coach Chauncey Billups met in Damian Lillard's home over the last few weeks and figured out how they're going to reunite, bond, and move forward." 

Lillard is still playing at an All-Star level and was selected for his ninth All-Star game last season. He averaged 24.9 points, 7.1 assists, and 4.7 rebounds for the Bucks in 2024-25 before he was eventually waived in free agency. 

In the same appearance on SportsCenter, Charania also gave an approximate timeline for Lillard's return to action.  

“Damian Lillard is expected to use the entire 2025-26 season to rehab the Achilles tear, and then return for the Portland Trail Blazers to make his reunion and return in that arena in 2026-27 ahead of a player option that he’ll have the summer of 2027.”

“So now, Damian Lillard is going to be in Portland. He’ll be able to rehab there, spend time in the community there, and be a leader for a young roster. Portland was 22-18 to end last season, they were a top-five defensive team as well, so this is a team that is clearly rebuilding, retooling.”

“And think just two years ago, they traded Damian Lillard for Jrue Holiday, then they traded Jrue Holiday for more assets, and now they have Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday, and all these players and assets that they’ve been able to build up and deepen this team.”

Damian Lillard now becomes one of only two players in the NBA with a full 'no-trade' clause given in the contract. LeBron James is the only other player to have that in his contract. Players like Jaxson Hayes have an implicit version of that, but it is not explicitly stated in the contract.