The inevitable appears to have arrived. With nine games remaining in the regular season for the Portland Trail Blazers, it seems that they are now ready to waive the white flag. This is after reports emerged on Saturday that Damian Lillard is now on the brink of getting shut down for the remainder of the season as the seven-time All-Star continues to deal with a calf injury.
NBA guru Shams Charania first broke the news:
“Sources: The Portland Trail Blazers are leaning toward shutting down All-Star Damian Lillard for the season's final nine games. The franchise is seriously considering taking precautions as Lillard deals with calf injury and the team is 3.5 games out of Play-In Tournament race,” Shams wrote in his tweet.
The Trail Blazers are "leaning toward shutting down" Damian Lillard for the rest of the season, per @ShamsCharania.
Lillard is currently dealing with a calf injury. pic.twitter.com/O2gQD2FlzC
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 25, 2023
As Charania indicated in his report, the Blazers are currently 3.5 games outside the Play-In picture in the West with a 32-41 record. Technically speaking, all hope is not lost just yet. They still have nine games remaining to try and secure a Top 10 finish and potentially book their place in the Play-In tournament. Well, the odds of Portland pulling this off is obviously going to decrease significantly without Damian Lillard in the picture.
Should the Blazers miss the playoffs this season, it will be their second straight year without a postseason appearance. This follows two consecutive years wherein they suffered a first-round exit.
Major changes seem to be looming for Portland this offseason, and perhaps they have now decided to try their luck in the lottery for a shot at projected No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama. It might be a little too late for that, though.
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