The incredible return of Damian Lillard with the Portland Trail Blazers
The star point guard of the Portland team, still injured, will make his comeback with his lifelong team at the All-Star Weekend
Damian Lillard will once again suit up in the Portland Trail Blazers uniform in a way as unexpected as symbolic. Although he has not played any games this season while recovering from an Achilles tendon injury, the NBA has confirmed that he will participate in the All-Star Weekend three-point contest.
Lillard will be part of the lineup alongside Devin Booker, the 2018 champion with the Phoenix Suns, as well as Kon Knueppel (Charlotte), Tyrese Maxey (Philadelphia), Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland), Jamal Murray (Denver), Bobby Portis Jr. (Milwaukee), and Norman Powell (Miami).
The event will take place in Inglewood, California, at the Los Angeles Clippers' arena. If he secures a win, Lillard will achieve a historic feat, joining Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the only players capable of winning the three-point contest three times.
The All-Star Saturday will also feature a change in its usual format. The three-point contest will kick off the day, followed by the return of the Shooting Stars and then the dunk contest. The skills challenge will not be held this year.
For Lillard, it will be the first time he performs, at least shooting hoops, in front of fans since his return to Portland before the start of this season. The point guard sustained an injury last spring while playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, a franchise that decided to release him and stretch out the remaining $113 million of his contract to make him a free agent and facilitate his return to his original team.
History prior to Lillard
It won't be the first time a three-point contest participant competes without having made a single three-point shot during the season. In 1989, the NBA invited Rimas Kurtinaitis, a Lithuanian player who never played a game in the league.
Lillard was selected sixth overall in the 2012 draft by the Trail Blazers and spent eleven seasons in Portland before being traded to Milwaukee just before the 2023-24 season. The guard won the three-point contest consecutively in 2023 and 2024 before Tyler Herro of Miami claimed victory last year. Herro, who has missed a significant portion of the current season due to injury, is not among the participants in this edition.
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