Bucks confirm Damian Lillard has a torn left Achilles tendon

MILWAUKEE AP Damian Lillard has a torn left Achilles tendon confirming the Milwaukee Bucks worst fears after the seven-time all-NBA guard was helped off the court Sunday night The Bucks declared the severity of Lillard s injury after he had an MRI on Monday The injury knocks Lillard out for the rest of the postseason and could put his status for next season in doubt as well When Kevin Durant tore his Achilles tendon in the NBA Finals he ended up missing the entire - season Appreciate all the prayers and well wishes Lillard mentioned Monday in an Instagram post This one really hurt HIS way not MY way To be continued The Bucks had been bracing for this outcome after Milwaukee s - loss to the Indiana Pacers in Match Milwaukee trails the Indiana Pacers - in their Eastern Conference first-round series Challenge is Tuesday at Indianapolis Lillard s injury occurred in his third tournament since coming back from deep vein thrombosis in his right calf This is a tough one honestly Bucks coach Doc Rivers commented after Sunday s challenge Blood clot followed by this It s just tough That s why you have teammates and family around him He s just such a great freaking dude on a basketball level but more importantly as a teammate and a father and all that stuff Lillard was behind the -point line around the top of the key midway through the first quarter when the ball bounced toward him Lillard used his left hand to tip the ball toward teammate Gary Trent Jr then went down and grabbed the lower part of his left leg He continued to sit on the floor as play resumed on the other end of the court When Lillard got up he couldn t put weight on his left leg He eventually was helped off the court and into the locker room He s one of the toughest guys I know so when he stays down you feel for him mentioned teammate Pat Connaughton who played with Lillard in Portland and Milwaukee Lillard s toughness had been apparent from the fact that he was playing in the first place after missing the Bucks final regular-season games with deep vein thrombosis an abnormal clot within a vessel where the congealing of blood blocks the flow through on the way back to the heart He was taken off blood-thinning medication and cleared to resume full basketball activity after the regular season He missed Match of the Pacers series to work his way back and then returned in Match I have so much respect for him teammate and two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo reported A lot of people don t see what Dame had to deal with but we re around him every single day and it s hard It s hard being in his position He s one of the toughest mentally toughest guys I ve ever been around That s why he is who he is Lillard ranked th in the NBA in scoring and th in assists this season while earning his th All-Star Competition selection He made an extraordinarily rapid return from his deep vein thrombosis to rejoin his teammates for the playoffs While talking to reporters before the playoffs Lillard disclosed doctors had advised him his episode was remarkable They were just like We don t see this Lillard reported then For me I was just like it was a different experience for me because I went in there a bunch of times and it was the same size So I m like it didn t seem that special and then it just reached a point where it just got a lot smaller out of nowhere Now he faces an even longer recovery while dealing with a separate issue requiring surgery I believe he s going to overcome every obstacle that s put in front of him Antetokounmpo mentioned Everybody s going to be there for him No matter what the obstacle is for him he s going to overcome and we re going to help him overcome it Lillard s situation continues the Bucks run of bad luck with postseason injuries since winning their title Khris Middleton missed an entire seven-game Eastern Conference semifinal loss to Boston in with a sprained medial collateral ligament Antetokounmpo bruised his lower back in Milwaukee s first playoff event in and didn t return until Championship of a first-round series it lost - to Miami In the Bucks - first-round loss to Indiana last year Antetokounmpo didn t play at all because of a calf strain and Lillard missed two games with an Achilles injury AP NBA https apnews com nba Source