The Portland Trail Blazers announced Wednesday that Damian Lillard will leave the NBA campus on Thursday and return to Portland for further examination of his injured right knee.
The injury occurred in the third quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 135-115 victory in Game 4 as Lillard began to jump while taking a shot after driving hard toward the basket. Lillard remained in the game for a couple of minutes before leaving under his own power.
The Blazers say Lillard’s availability to return to the Orlando campus is yet to be determined.
Lillard was also playing through a dislocated left index finger that he suffered in Game 2.
Before the injuries, Lillard was named Kia NBA Player of the Seeding Games, averaging 37.6 points, 9.6 assists and 4.3 rebounds in more than 40 minutes per game. Lillard willed the Blazers into the postseason with one dazzling performance after another. Portland won their final three seeding games by a total of seven points; Lillard had 51, 61 and 42 points, respectively, in those games.
He has been very durable during his eight NBA seasons, all of them coming with the Blazers. They’ve played 703 regular-season and playoff games since he was drafted; he’s appeared in 670 of them, or 95.3%, and started his career by playing in 286 consecutive Portland contests, including playoff matchups.
