The Portland Trail Blazers pulled off an impressive 4-0 start to the 2022-23 NBA season before losing to the Miami Heat 119-98 on Wednesday. A pivotal reason has been the play of their superstar, Damian Lillard.
Lillard is averaging 31.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists in his five performances while shooting 49.5 percent from the floor and 39.2 percent from 3-point range.
The Trail Blazers announced on Thursday that Lillard was diagnosed with a grade one strain in his right half and will be re-evaluated in 1-to-2 weeks. He suffered the injury midway through the third quarter of Wednesday’s loss to the Miami Heat — causing him to depart for the locker room.
“It wasn’t nothing that I was overly concerned with,” Lillard said after the game. “I just know that it wouldn’t make sense to try and push through it in the fifth game of the season.”
LATEST NBA INJURY NEWS: Damian Lillard & Portland Trail Blazers Updates
Lillard, who missed much of last season due to a core injury that caused chronic abdominal pain, made it clear that he has to be cautious with his approach to recovery.
“Now I’ve just got to be smart, and make sure I’m getting a couple of treatment sessions in each day, and just try to stretch it,” Lillard added. “So probably not going to be playing that game on Friday. That will give me six days of maybe two sessions some days, three sessions other days, and try to be ready for that one. We’ll see.”
LATEST NBA INJURY NEWS: Damian Lillard & Portland Trail Blazers Updates
The Trail Blazers will need Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe to step up while Lillard remains sidelined. Portland’s next outing is on Friday against the Houston Rockets before having to face off against the Memphis Grizzlies and Phoenix Suns next week.
