Exclusive | Damian Lillard dishes on return from Achilles injury: I am who I think I am
Damian Lillard had been in this situation many times before. With 43.1 seconds remaining and the Trail Blazers up, 132-129, his teammates wanted the ball in his hands.It was Dame Time.
It was the type of moment he lives for.Deni Avdija passed the ball to Lillard, who made a pump-fake, shaking Matisse Thybulle.
Lillard stepped behind the 3-point line and fired a 25-foot jumper.The ball swished through the net, sealing a 136-129 win over the Lakers on Tuesday.But this shot meant something different.
Lillard had missed all of last season after suffering a torn Achilles tendon in Game 4 of the Bucks’ first-round playoff series against the Pacers in April 2025.A few months later, he was stunningly waived by Milwaukee.
It was the lowest point in his career.Through all of that, Lillard learned something about himself. “That I am who I think I am,” Lillard told the California Post in an exclusive interview.“Not as far as status, but the way that I operate, how I answer the call.
I rise to whatever comes my way.It just showed me that’s really who I am.”The 36-year-old Lillard’s resilience was deeply tested over the last few years. After requesting a trade from the Trail Blazers, where he spent the first 11 years of his career, he had hoped to land in Miami.
But he was unexpectedly dealt to Milwaukee in September 2023.Lillard was shocked but decided to shake off the disappointment and embrace playing alongside two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo on a Bucks team that had championship aspirations.But things didn’t go as planned.
The injury-riddled Bucks never got past the first round of the playoffs.Antetokounmpo missed two games of the 2024 postseason with a lower back injury as the Bucks fell to the eighth-seeded Heat in five games.
The following postseason, Antetokounmpo was sidelined the entire opening-round series against the Pacers with a left calf strain — before things took a turn for the worse.Midway through the first quarter of Game 4 again...