{"id":20217,"date":"2025-07-19T00:20:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T00:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/20217\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T00:20:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T00:20:08","slug":"damian-lillard-is-back-with-the-trail-blazers-good-move-or-bad-move-plus-other-nba-reunions-wed-like-to-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/20217\/","title":{"rendered":"Damian Lillard is back with the Trail Blazers: Good move or bad move? Plus, other NBA reunions we’d like to see"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Dame Time again in Portland. Damian Lillard has agreed to a 3-year deal to return to the Trail Blazers<\/a>, after the Bucks waived the star guard earlier this month. Lillard, who is recovering from a torn Achilles tendon, spent his first 11 seasons in Portland and is expected to be ready for the 2026-27 season. What should we make of the reunion? Let’s break it down.<\/p>\n

Good move or bad move for Dame?<\/p>\n

Dan Devine: Great move for Dame. Lillard returns to the franchise where he\u2019s a legend, to the city where he\u2019s a made man and, most important of all, to the home where he can be with his three children each and every day<\/a> \u2014 a massive quality-of-life improvement for a player who\u2019d been very vocal about the difficulties of being away from his family during his two years in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

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Oh, and Dame will get the Blazers\u2019 full $14.1 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception on a three-year deal. That comes with a player option for 2027-28 \u2014 potentially allowing him to re-enter unrestricted free agency for one more big score at age 37 \u2014 and a full no-trade clause<\/a>. So: Between his waived-and-stretched deal with the Bucks and the new agreement with the Blazers, Lillard\u2019s in line to make $141 million over the next two seasons<\/a>. To take the entirety of next year off to rehab his surgically repaired Achilles; to do it from the comforts of his own home; to put a regrettable period behind him; and to return to a city that adores him? Nice work if you can get it.<\/p>\n

Ben Rohrbach: Great move. Who doesn’t like a grand reunion? It didn’t even seem like Lillard was ever fully sold on the idea of leaving Portland, the future Hall of Famer loved it so much. To have the chance to finish his career where it started, shepherding the next generation of great Blazers, is storybook stuff. In the meantime, he gets paid handsomely to rehab his torn Achilles tendon. What, exactly, is not to like?<\/p>\n

Dan Titus: Good move, for sure. Sometimes it’s deeper than basketball. Lillard returns to a beloved fan base and franchise that has supported him throughout his Hall of Fame career. He could\u2019ve chased rings, but instead, Lillard chose family. At the end of the day, he\u2019s getting paid a ridiculous amount of money over the next two seasons to rehab an Achilles injury, and we don\u2019t know how he\u2019ll look when he returns. Lillard joins a young, ascending team, has earned himself a no-trade clause and will retire as the best Blazer in history. Sounds like a win across the board.<\/p>\n

Good move or bad move for the Blazers?<\/p>\n

Rohrbach: Meh? Lillard will sell tickets in Portland upon his return, but will the Blazers really want to hand the keys back to a high-usage 36-year-old who has rehabbed from a devastating injury a season from now, when the franchise will be years into the process of trying to emerge from Lillard’s shadow? That depends on whether Lillard is willing to accept a diminished role behind any emerging young talent.<\/p>\n

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Titus: With Paul Allen\u2019s estate announcing it’s selling the team, I understand the decision to reacquire a star who can help drive revenue during a sale. The Blazers also wisely drafted Yang Hansen, who gives broader appeal to global audiences. Optically, it\u2019s the right move. Basketball-wise, it\u2019s more of a wait-and-see. I\u2019m not sure how bringing back Dame accelerates Scoot Henderson\u2019s development. It probably stifles it somewhat, but overall, I like how Portland has reshaped its roster and is moving closer toward a contender than a pretender.<\/p>\n

Devine: First thing\u2019s first: It\u2019s good for Portland no matter how it works on the court. I\u2019m not sure anyone involved here ever really wanted Dame to leave; now, all parties involved get a second chance, and the Blazers get to give their paying customers the gift of a heart-swelling reunion. Even in a results-based business like professional basketball, championships aren\u2019t the only thing that matters. The way this stuff feels is important, too. And this, near as I can tell, feels really friggin\u2019 good in Portland.<\/p>\n

There are reasonable on-court questions to consider. What will the Blazers\u2019 backcourt look like in the fall of 2026, with Lillard ready to return, Jrue Holiday owed $34.8 million for his age-36 season, Shaedon Sharpe perhaps starting the extension for which he\u2019s eligible now, and Scoot Henderson becoming extension-eligible himself? How will the introduction of a post-Achilles Dame alter the infrastructure and operation of a Blazers team that began to develop a defense-first identity last season? Is any of this enough to put Portland in position for the kind of postseason contention it\u2019s been chasing since before the pandemic?<\/p>\n

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Those questions, and others, will find answers soon enough. The bet here, though, is that what the Blazers gain in bringing Dame home \u2014 emotionally and spiritually, if not necessarily practically \u2014 far outweighs what they might lose on the court.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s another NBA reunion you\u2019d like to see?<\/p>\n

Titus: Kevin Durant to Oklahoma City. It\u2019d be cool to see KD, one of the staples of the franchise, give it one more go with the franchise that raised him. The expiration date has likely passed since OKC became the best team in basketball and is set up for success for years to come. Still, I think it\u2019d be a good send-off for KD\u2019s illustrious but complex career.<\/p>\n

Devine: Let\u2019s get Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan back for one last lap in Toronto. They helped turn the Raptors into a consistently competitive, serious organization; Lowry reaped the fruits of those endeavors with the 2019 NBA championship, but DeRozan, sent to San Antonio for Kawhi Leonard, never did. It\u2019d be cool to see them get a season\u2019s full of flowers thrown at their feet north of the border before they both exit stage left.<\/p>\n

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Rohrbach: Give me LeBron James to the Cleveland Cavaliers \u2014 somehow, someway. They would have a real chance to compete for a championship with him in the mix on the wing, and wouldn’t that be some full-circle moment for arguably the greatest \u2014 and certainly the longest \u2014 career in the sport’s history?<\/p>\n

True or False: When Dame faces Milwaukee for the first time as a Blazer again, Giannis will still be a Buck<\/p>\n

Titus: True. I expect Dame to return for the 2026-27 season. It may be wishful thinking, but Giannis has consistently displayed loyalty to Milwaukee. Barring a terrible upcoming season, Giannis will be a Buck until his $62M player option comes up in 2027-28.<\/p>\n

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Rohrbach: False. While I also do not anticipate Lillard’s return until the 2026-27 campaign, it is already in the best interest of both Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks to negotiate a blockbuster trade. For now, it seems like both parties are open to finding a path forward together, but sooner or later \u2014 as soon as it becomes clear to them he cannot win another title in Milwaukee \u2014 they should pave his exit.<\/p>\n

Devine: True. Every year, we talk about Giannis leaving, and every year, he doesn\u2019t. At this point, I\u2019ll believe he\u2019s going when I actually see him holding up a new jersey in a press conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s Dame Time again in Portland. Damian Lillard has agreed to a 3-year deal to return to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[4199,6251,8174,5487,18427,18426,6410,11653,5556,13756,3013,8263,355,12205,18223,18431,6999,18428,18429,99,18424,18425,12378,18430],"class_list":["post-20217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-blazers","tag-bucks","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-damian-lillard","tag-demar-derozan","tag-giannis","tag-jrue-holiday","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-kevin-durant","tag-kyle-lowry","tag-lebron-james","tag-milwaukee","tag-nba","tag-oklahoma-city","tag-portland","tag-raptors","tag-san-antonio","tag-scoot-henderson","tag-shaedon-sharpe","tag-sports","tag-the-blazers","tag-torn-achilles-tendon","tag-toronto","tag-yang-hansen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}