Will Trail Blazers’ Young Core be Affected by Damian Lillard Signing?

Lillard was then surprisingly waived, and given the choice to go where he wished. That ended up being a reunion with Portland, as Charania reported on Thursday that the guard will be re-joining the roster on a three-year, $42 million deal.

The reunion makes sense for both sides. Lillard, at his core, is a Trail Blazer. And the team seems to be positioning itself for some success in the coming years, trading for a strong win-now piece in Jrue Holiday.

But the moves made this offseason have been somewhat of a heel-turn from their last several years. Portland has been a strong player at the NBA Draft in recent years, coming away with a variety of talented prospects like Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson, Donovan Clingan and, most recently, center Yang Hansen.

The team seemed to be opting towards a full rebuild in the early stages, but is now positioning toward a half one, with those players yet to reach their full potential.

It begs the question: how will Lillard’s return — as well as Portland’s other moves — affect the team’s young core?

In the short-term, it won’t.

Lillard is set to sit out the entire 2025-26 NBA season rehabbing his injury, and will instead likely focus on helping the team’s guard rotation learn the intricacies of success in the NBA off-court. His experience as one of the better players in the NBA should prove invaluable for all the young players, but especially the guards.

In the long-term, Lillard’s re-joining of the squad isn’t likely to send major negative ripples across the team, either. Rather the opposite.

He only shares a position with Henderson, and on-court would likely aid the likes of Clingan, Hansen and even Sharpe.

Additionally, while he’s an All-Time player, his Achilles tear is one of the more serious injuries a player can suffer, and there’s a chance he won’t come back the star we’ve known. When he gets back, there’s a chance Henderson is handling the offense full-time, and Lillard could likely share those reps with him, or even play more of a two-guard role with his white-hot 3-point shooting.

All in all, Lillard’s return makes sense on plenty of fronts for the Trail Blazers, be it adding back the face of their franchise, experience for their young group and a talented player a year from now.