MILWAUKEE (AP) — Damian Lillard worked tirelessly to make an extraordinarily rapid return from deep vein thrombosis in his calf and join his Milwaukee Bucks teammates for the playoffs.
In just his third game back, he suffered another potential long-term injury to his other leg.
Lillard was helped off the court and into the locker room after a non-contact injury midway through the first quarter of the Bucks' 129-103 loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Sunday night. The preliminary examination of Lillard indicated a possible Achilles tendon injury, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team did not immediately reveal those details. The Bucks only described it as a lower left leg injury.
“They’re going to do an image tomorrow,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “Obviously, it’s lower leg. And, just being honest, it’s not very promising.”
Lillard was behind the 3-point line around the top of the key midway through the first quarter when the ball bounced toward him. Lillard used his left hand to tip the ball toward teammate Gary Trent Jr., then went down and grabbed the lower part of his left leg, around his ankle. The seven-time all-NBA player continued to sit on the floor as play resumed on the other end of the court.
After a foul stopped play, Lillard was helped up. He then started limping and had to be assisted off the court and into the locker room. The Bucks will now wait to learn the severity of his injury.
“He's one of the toughest, mentally toughest guys I've ever been around, that's why he is who he is,” Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “I believe he's going to overcome every obstacle that's put in front of him. Everybody's going to be there for him.”
The possibility this injury could keep Lillard out for a significant length of time was evident to both teams. Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner each opened their postgame news conferences by expressing their concern for Lillard.
“You hate to see that happen, especially to a guy who went through a lot and he’s given it his all to come out here and play after a scary healthy issue,” Haliburton said.
Lillard had missed the Bucks' final 14 regular-season games as well as the opening game of this series with deep vein thrombosis, an abnormal clot within a vessel where the congealing of blood blocks the flow through on the way back to the heart.
He was taken off the blood-thinning medication and cleared to resume full basketball activities at the end of the regular season. He returned for Game 2 of this series on Tuesday.
“This is a tough one, honestly," Rivers said. “Blood clot, followed by this. It’s just tough. That’s why you have teammates and family around him. He’s just such a great freaking dude, on a basketball level, but more importantly as a teammate and a father and all that stuff.”
The Bucks have endured all sorts of postseason injuries since winning a title in 2021.
Khris Middleton missed an entire seven-game Eastern Conference semifinal loss to Boston in 2022 with a sprained medial collateral ligament. Giannis Antetokounmpo bruised his lower back in Milwaukee’s first playoff game in 2023 and didn’t return until Game 4 of a first-round series it lost 4-1 to Miami. In the Bucks’ 4-2 first-round loss to Indiana last year, Antetokounmpo didn’t play at all because of a calf strain and Lillard missed two games with an Achilles injury.
The Bucks now trail Indiana 3-1 and are on the brink of elimination as they worry about Lillard's long-term prognosis.
“I’ll make sense of it this summer,” Rivers said. "Nothing you can do about it, I do know that, except try to rally your team, get them back together and try to win one game to get it back to Milwaukee.”
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AP Pro Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Steve Megargee, The Associated Press
