Pelton gives the Blazers an A-
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45519132/nba-free-agency-2025-reaction-grades-biggest-signings
July 17: Dame returns to Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers agreed to a reported three-year, $42 million contract with guard Damian Lillard
Grade: A-
Lillard's return to Portland is a feel-good ending to an unhappy chapter with the Milwaukee Bucks that culminated in an Achilles injury and Lillard's release with two years remaining on his contract.
Given the opportunity to pick his destination as a free agent for the first time in his career, Lillard opted to go back to where he starred over his first 11 NBA seasons and where his family and children still reside.
In basketball terms, Lillard will be an interesting fit for a Blazers team that found a new identity without him during the second half of last season. Portland acquired Toumani Camara as part of the Lillard deal and turned the players and picks acquired from that trade into Deni Avdija, the two leading contributors to the Blazers going 23-18 in the second half of last season.
Now, Portland has both Jrue Holiday (part of the return for Lillard, traded to the Boston Celtics days later and then reacquired this summer for Anfernee Simons) and Lillard along with the young talent those trades produced -- with more Milwaukee first-round picks and swaps still to convey.
Given the timing of his left Achilles rupture in late April, it's unlikely Lillard will play a significant role for the Blazers this season. No NBA player since JJ Barea in 2019 has returned from an Achilles rupture faster than 10½ months after the injury, a timetable that would put Lillard back in mid-March at the earliest.
Still, after striking a buyout with center Deandre Ayton -- another part of the Lillard deal -- on the eve of free agency, Portland could afford to use its non-taxpayer midlevel exception to pay Lillard on top of his $54 million guaranteed salary from the Bucks without going into the tax. This deal is really about having Lillard back for 2026-27, when a healthy version would have potentially commanded more than the $14 million the Blazers will pay him.
By then, Portland should have a better idea of how its backcourt shakes out. The Simons trade should create more on-ball opportunities for Scoot Henderson during his third season, while the Blazers will know how much Holiday has left in the tank and the long-term future of shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe. Sharpe can be a restricted free agent next summer if he doesn't agree to an extension before the start of this season.
There's still work for Portland to do, particularly if the team wants to be a player in free agency next summer. With Lillard's salary on the books, plus a $25.2 million cap hold for Sharpe, the Blazers might be better off staying over the cap as things stand. If Portland can get out of the final two years of veteran forward Jerami Grant's contract, however, it's possible the Blazers could open cap space for a run at another contributor.
Give Lillard credit for negotiating a favorable deal. If Lillard comes back at a high level in 2026-27, a player option for the final season of this contract will allow him to collect more money the following season, when he's no longer being paid by Milwaukee. And after going to a destination that wasn't his initial target in the 2023 trade, Lillard got a no-trade clause, joining LeBron James as the only players in the league with one after Bradley Beal's was extinguished when he agreed to a buyout with the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday
