Watch: Bucks' Damian Lillard heads to locker room after non-contact injury

Soon after, NBA on TNT broadcaster Stephanie Ready reported that Lillard would be ruled out for the remainder of the game. And soon after that, even more reports began flooding in, citing a belief that Lillard had ruptured his Achilles. An Achilles tear is devastating for any player, but especially a player of Lillard’s age, 34.

While it's still too early to speculate on Lillard’s injury return timeline, it feels safe to chalk up the Bucks’ 2024-2025 season as finished. The Bucks never had much of a shot of making a real run in the East, and now does that not only feel accurate for this year, but possibly going forward.

This iteration of the Bucks has, for all intents and purposes, disappointed. Back-to-back first-round exits—regardless of injuries—were not what the Milwaukee front office had in mind when they pulled off the Jrue Holiday-Lillard swap. And you can bet that with this latest injury, significant changes are coming in the offseason.

For Lillard, a lengthy year-plus injury rehabilitation likely awaits him, which truly is a shame for NBA fans worldwide, because when he's right, he’s one of the most exciting, dynamic and explosive long-distance scorers that we have in our game.