Damian Lillard just dropped a bomb, telling Andscape’s Marc J. Spears that getting waived by the Milwaukee Bucks after rupturing his left Achilles tendon in spring 2025 was easily the “darkest time” in his entire NBA career. Talk about a gut punch.
The Bucks Cut Dame, And He Was In Limbo
Imagine being one of the league’s top talents, and then suddenly, you’re not on a team. Lillard got hit with that reality when the Bucks cut him three months after his Achilles went out in his final 2025 playoff game with them. He told Spears it wasn’t about whether he’d get *another* opportunity, but the sheer thought of potentially sitting out an entire year, just waiting to get healthy, then having to “go and visit teams and just work out for them and whatever and try to figure it out from there.” That’s not just uncertainty, that’s career-altering doubt. He described it as a total “limbo” because he’d “never not been on the team.” The man spent 11 seasons with the Blazers before even asking for a trade in 2023. This was uncharted, rough territory.
A Social Media Surprise and A Costly Decision
The shock of the waiver itself was next-level. Lillard had previously been open about being completely surprised by the Bucks’ decision to let him go after only two seasons. He told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Jim Owczarski that he didn’t even hear about the deal from the team itself. Nope. He found out on social media. Can you believe that? You’d think a franchise would have a conversation with a player of Lillard’s caliber, especially when he left Portland with *four years* left on his deal and thought he’d be in Milwaukee “the next four seasons at least.” Things spun out fast from injury to being “waived unexpected,” as he put it, and then Portland swooped in as an “aggressive suitor” to bring him back home. The Bucks, by the way, waived and stretched Lillard’s contract to sign Myles Turner in a failed attempt to keep Giannis Antetokounmpo, who ended up getting traded to the Miami Heat in June. What a mess.
So, Lillard sat out all of last season, focusing on that Achilles recovery. Now, while Giannis gets ready for his Heat debut, Lillard is gearing up for his official return to the Blazers. He’s back on the court Wednesday night against the visiting Phoenix Suns. After everything he’s been through, after that “darkest time,” you know he’s coming back with something to prove. You just know it.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Bleacher Report.
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