Milwaukee Bucks superstar point guard Damian Lillard is feared to have suffered one of the worst injuries possible to suffer in basketball.
The 6-foot-2 Weber State product, 34, was playing just his third game back after sitting out for a month with a right calf deep vein thrombosis.
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He went down, without contact, late into the opening quarter of a critical Game 4 in the team’s ongoing first round playoff series against the Indiana Pacers.
Sources inform NBA insider Chris Haynes that the nine-time All-Star has incurred a left Achilles tear.
Sources: The fear is Bucks star Damian Lillard suffered a left Achilles tear. Brutal circumstance after working himself back from a blood clot diagnosis that kept him out over a month. https://t.co/NgQtMpm0yE
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) April 28, 2025
Only in recent seasons have superstar players been able to fully bounce back from Achilles tears. 15-time All-Star Phoenix Suns power forward Kevin Durant, who tore his Achilles during the 2019 NBA Finals while with the Golden State Warriors, missed the entirety of the 2019-20 season after signing with the Brooklyn Nets in free agency.
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When Durant did return, in 2020-21, he looked like the elite scorer with the lethal jumper he had always been.
The injury could be permanently career-altering. Hall of Fame Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant tore his Achilles right before the 2013 playoffs, and was never the same, although he was voted onto All-Star teams by fans in each of his last three lottery-bound seasons anyway.
Upon getting wind of the injury, even the Bucks’ official X account offered up a prayer hoping for good health.
Damian Lillard. 🙏
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) April 28, 2025
For Lillard, a small guard in his mid-30s who had already been trending in the wrong performative direction since being traded to the Bucks in the 2023 offseason, this would be a devastating blow. At the time of his injury, Durant was just 30, and as a 6-foot-11 athletic superfreak his terrific recovery may not have been par for the course, even with modern medicine.
Even if Lillard does manage to regain his form from a hypothetical Achilles tear, this injury could have instant, long-term ripple effects for Milwaukee. Beyond knocking Lillard out of the rest of the 2025 playoffs, an Achilles tear would likely cost him most or all of 2025-26, effectively killing the club’s title aspirations for two seasons.
As of this writing, the Bucks currently trail the Pacers in Fiserv Forum, 63-52, at the half. The Pacers lead the Bucks in the series as well, 2-1. A win tonight would give Indiana a chance to close things out back at home in Game 5.
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