Portland Trail Blazers star guard Damian Lillard will undergo further evaluation and consultation concerning his lower abdominal tendinopathy, the team announced.
The 31-year-old will miss at least the team’s next three games against the Miami Heat (Jan. 5), Cleveland Cavaliers (Jan. 7) and Sacramento Kings (Jan. 9) before being reevaluated next week.
It was recently reported that there haven’t been discussions about Lillard having surgery and being sidelined for an extended period of time, but head coach Chauncey Billups said that possibility isn’t off the table.
“I think what we’re gonna do is just kind of meet, put all our heads together here soon and then talk through some of those things,” said Billups. “I think that’s probably gonna be the route that we go if he doesn’t get some kind of relief there. Because I can only imagine how frustrated he is. We all know that this dude wants to play every game and play every minute of every game.”
In 29 games this season, Lillard is averaging 24.0 points, 4.1 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game in 36.4 minutes per game.
His shooting percentages of 40.2% from the field and 32.4% from three are both career lows, as the injury has become more of a problem this season.
The Trail Blazers, who are currently without their star backcourt duo of Lillard and CJ McCollum, will continue to rely on Norman Powell and Anfernee Simons, as Simons is coming off a career-high 43 points and nine 3-pointers, along with 3 rebounds and 7 assists in a 136-131 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 3.
