Of all the transitions the Portland Trail Blazers made in the Summer of 2025, signing Damian Lillard to a three-year contract was by far the most publicly notable. Lillard is nothing short of a legend in Portland. Reacquiring him after trading him to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2023 was a public relations boon, nearly a miracle. Though Lillard will spend the year rehabbing an Achilles’ tendon tear, his return to action will be the most anticipated moment of the next two years in Rip City.

Cutting through all the goodwill and excitement, what will Lillard’s reappearance really mean for the Blazers, though? That question has been asked multiple times in the Blazer’s Edge Mailbag. We’ll tackle it today.

Dame is back! The only thing I can liken it to is JR screaming Stone Cold’s return. By god Portland, that’s Damian Lillard’s music! I’m hyped about this more than anything I can remember. Can you put it in perspective though? How big is this moment in the team’s history? What can we really expect from Dame at this point? Thanks

Props for the use of Good Ol’ JR in your reference. The Blazer’s Edge slack channel used to use that phrase all the time back in the day. I haven’t thought of it in years! Way to bring back memories.

And hey, it applies! Damian Lillard returning to the Blazers at this point is like Stone Cold returning to the WW(F)E back in the early 2000’s. Both were the faces of their franchises. Things weren’t the same without them. There had been stars before them–Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels, Bill Walton and Clyde Drexler–but nobody to that point had captured so much of the public’s imagination and, honestly, admiration. Damian Lillard IS the Portland Headliner no matter where he is.

As a side note, even last season, when Lillard was a year and a half gone to Milwaukee and nowhere near being associated with the Blazers anymore, articles with his picture in a Bucks uniform were among the most viewed across the site. And we get a LOT of views. Most times Dame in another team’s uniform was more popular than most other legit, current Blazers news. That’s how big he is.

All of that now comes full circle. Lillard is back with his family, personal and NBA. When he speaks it will be from, about, and for Portland. In a sense, that’s 80% of what matters in this equation. The removal of dissonance–cognitive oddness of the non-Portland Lillard–is its own reward. We’ll no longer look at the Blazers or Dame with an asterisk. For a team that hasn’t been able to part with a superstar on good terms EVER–see also: Walton, Drexler, and Rasheed Wallace–this is significant. Portland’s aura, though bruised, is reviving, potentially.

On the court? That remains to be seen.

We need to shift to another analogy here. Lillard returning to Portland for another shift is like making sequels in the Indiana Jones franchise.

Raiders of the Lost Ark was an eternal classic. It’ll never be duplicated. So was Lillard’s first run in Portland. Anyone expecting a repeat is going to be disappointed. When the next iteration comes around, you just hope it’s more like Last Crusade than Crystal Skull. A little help from Sean Connery/Jrue Holiday, a quest for something recognizable, and you’re good to go. If the roster around him Shia LaBeoufs its way through a season with no true reward in sight, Dame’s reappearance won’t be enough to save them any more than an aging Harrison Ford did for Indy.

People are already worrying about Lillard’s defensive ability. He didn’t shine in that area before the injury. He’s not going to afterwards either. I don’t see this as a fatal flaw, though. Even in this new “next man up” NBA, you can cover one weak defender for significant stretches of time. As long as you don’t field two, it’ll probably be ok.

The bigger worry to me is whether Dame will be Dame on offense. If he doesn’t present any driving threat and can’t go quick laterally on a sidestep, defenders can camp on his shooting hand. Truthfully, Dame’s shooting percentages were already vacillating year to year before the injury. If he doesn’t have mobility and lift, I can see his efficiency dropping off a cliff. At that point public relations, and maybe the stray game-winner, might be the only real benefit of his reemergence.

Stylistically, Lillard’s slower pace and deep shooting ability should benefit a couple of teammates. Donovan Clingan and probably Jerami Grant will find a more natural fit with Dame than with Scoot Henderson. Clingan would be a big boon to Lillard on the other end as well. Yang Hansen could be a wash either way depending on how he develops and where the Blazers use him on offense. Toumani Camara could flourish with more open corner threes and driving opportunities if Lillard can pull defenders to the top of the arc.

I’m guessing that Henderson and Deni Avdija will not benefit as much from Dame’s style, at least not directly. If Lillard becomes a corner or sideline outlet, sure. But to the extent he slows play and handles the ball–which is part of what we love Lillard for–Scoot and Deni will become horses running away from the wagon.

All of that is theoretical, of course. We don’t even know if Lillard will play, let alone how. But let’s just say that his return is ultra-positive from a PR and interest standpoint and likely to be a mixed bag–pending his ability and the team’s adjustment–on the court. That’s still fun, though. And seeing Dame hit a logo three for the win even once would all but justify the cost of readopting him in the hearts of Blazers fans, I’m sure.
Thanks for the question! You all can send yours to blazersub@gmail.com and we’ll try to answer as many as possible!

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