{"id":838773,"date":"2026-09-06T20:24:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T20:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/838773\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T20:24:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T20:24:31","slug":"draymond-green-sends-strong-damian-lillard-warning-the-league-is-not-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/838773\/","title":{"rendered":"Draymond Green sends strong Damian Lillard warning: &#8220;The league is not ready&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Draymond Green believes the NBA is in for a rude awakening when Portland Trail Blazers star guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/underrated-nba-teams-most-likely-win-more-games-2026-2027\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"226432\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Damian Lillard returns to the court<\/a> in the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lillard has been on the sidelines since the 2025 playoffs, tearing his Achillies against the Indiana Pacers in the first round. Following the Milwaukee Bucks\u2019 decision to waive-and-stretch the remainder of his contract, Lillard chose to return to Portland on a two-year deal that summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first year had him rehab for all of the 2025-26 campaign. That didn\u2019t stop him from taking part in All-Star festivities, winning the 3-point shooting contest in remarkable fashion. This feat, alongside making 1,100 triples during shooting practice, resulted in Green <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DraymondShow\/status\/2096606849525047346\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">sending a clear warning<\/a> to the rest of the league.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDame Lillard posted his shooting practice from over the weekend, and he made 1,100 out of 1,168 threes, which is 94% from three. And playing with someone like Steph Curry and Klay Thompson for the bulk of my career, I can\u2019t say that I\u2019ve ever seen anyone hit 1,100 out of 1,168. I\u2019m also not about to sit there and watch Steph shoot 1,100 shots. So has he done something like that? I don\u2019t know. Does it even matter? no, it does not. You know why it doesn\u2019t matter? Because this is about Damian Lillard,\u201d Green said on his podcast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cComing off an Achilles surgery, don\u2019t play any basketball, don\u2019t be in front of any crowds, and go win the three-point contest, that\u2019s no easy feat. For a period of time, all he can do is shoot. Being a marksman that he already was, man, he gonna have to get his legs under him for sure in coming back. But when he do, I don\u2019t think the league is ready to see the type of shooting display that Dame about to put on when he get back. I\u2019m not looking forward to it either, at least not when they play us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Draymond reacts to Damian Lillard going 1,100 for 1,168 from three in shooting practice<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t say that I&#8217;ve ever seen anyone hit 1,100 out of 1,168, I&#8217;m also not about to sit there and watch Steph shoot 1,100 shots\u2026 He gonna have to get his legs under him for sure and\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7KcOqyLZDV\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/7KcOqyLZDV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The Draymond Green Show (@DraymondShow) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DraymondShow\/status\/2096606849525047346?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">September 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>What lies ahead for Damian Lillard and Blazers next season<\/p>\n<p><img data-od-added-loading=\"\" data-od-removed-fetchpriority=\"high\" data-od-replaced- data-od-xpath=\"\/HTML\/BODY\/DIV[@class='elementor elementor-68004 elementor-location-single post-230330 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-nba tag-damian-lillard tag-draymond-green tag-nba tag-portland-trail-blazers mv-content-wrapper']\/*[3][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[8][self::FIGURE]\/*[1][self::PICTURE]\/*[2][self::IMG]\" loading=\"lazy\" data-wp-picture-wrapped=\"\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/BASKETBALL-NBA-POR-LAC.jpg\" alt=\"NBA: Los Angeles Clippers at Portland Trail Blazers\" class=\"wp-image-230379\" \/>Apr 10, 2026; Portland, Oregon, USA;  Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) watches his teammates during warm ups before the Trail Blazers play against the LA Clippers at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect (Reuters)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Draymond Green has significant history with Damian Lillard. His Warriors squads took on Lillard\u2019s Blazers squads many times in the playoffs, showing he is well aware of the star guard\u2019s explosiveness when he is back up to speed on the court.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lillard garnered numerous accolades throughout his career so far, whether it\u2019s All-Star selections and All-NBA teams. Following a year of Achilles rehab, Lillard has a major goal on his radar to prove doubters wrong and help Portland make noise in the league next season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Portland finished with a 42-40 record, securing the seventh seed in the Western Conference bracket after beating the Phoenix Suns in the play-in tournament. However, their playoff run ended in the first round after losing to the San Antonio Spurs in five games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/subscribe\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Enjoy free coverage of the top news &amp; trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter\u00a0<\/a>\u2014<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Draymond Green believes the NBA is in for a rude awakening when Portland Trail Blazers star guard Damian&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":838774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[5487,13339,355,6406,99],"class_list":["post-838773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-damian-lillard","tag-draymond-green","tag-nba","tag-portland-trail-blazers","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838773","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=838773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}