Damian Lillard is coming back

Damian Lillard is coming home.

Weeks of rumors about a potential homecoming finally culminated on Thursday afternoon when ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Portland’s All-Time leading scorer would return on a 3-year, $42 million deal.

I wrote a couple weeks ago that it would be unwise to dismiss a Lillard return as a possibility, because this is home for him. That desire to be back home plus the Blazers excitement make the reunion happen obviously coalesced into a deal.

Lillard likely will want to come back as soon as he possibly can, but one would imagine a long-term commitment like this would encourage him to take the full season to properly recover and work his way back into playing shape.

Unlike the Bucks, who were constantly on the clock with trying to win championships with Giannis, this Portland team has expectations to build on last season, but don’t have nearly the same pressure. Therefore, there should be no rush on Dame’s side of things unless he’s absolutely ready.

Nevertheless, Lillard and the Blazers now get the storybook ending they had always wished for. The only thing that would make it better is if they could make some real noise in 2027 when Lillard is back on the court. They will have far more size and far more defensive versatility than any of Dame’s Blazers teams, but there are still plenty of questions.

And finally, with that move, it looks like the Blazers offseason transaction cycle has effectively closed. They still have one more roster spot available but with Lillard signing for a number that is near the mid-level exception, it looks like their roster is more or less set for next season.

(I posted this on mobile because I’m somewhere without my computer but I knew something had to go up immediately because of this news!)