Portland Trail Blazers star point guard Damian Lillard was unable to play in the past two games, dealing with back spasms, implicitly giving new teammate All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony the green light to start chucking in the former third-overall pick's first games back after missing a calendar year of basketball.

Lillard is expected to return in Portland's matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday, per Sports Illustrated's Sam Amico on Twitter.

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Lillard, 29, signed a max contract extension with the Blazers this past offseason, making the face of the franchise stay another four years in the City of Roses. The former Rookie of the Year was averaging a career-best 28.6 points per game before being sidelined with his back injury.

That injury coincided with the Blazers activating 10-time All-Star Carmelo Anthony, who scored 10 points on Thursday and 18 points yesterday in Lillard's stead, losing both games as Portland continues to slide. The Blazers have been dealing with multiple injuries and lack wing depth after the past offseason cost them Maurice Harkless, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Meyers Leonard.

On the bright side, with the 6-foot-2 floor general set to return shortly, the Blazers will get to marry Anthony with Lillard, the latter of whom petitioned general manager Neil Olshey to sign the free agent scoring champion since the summer. It's unclear how long Anthony will spend in the starting lineup, with many criticism is ineffective performances for Portland despite not playing professional hoops since November of last year, when he was benched and scapegoated by the Houston Rockets, and later traded and waived.

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