On January 13, Beijing time, according to the famous Shams report, the Blazers star Lillard will undergo surgery on Thursday local time to treat his abdominal injury, and he will be in an indefinite truce in the future. Journalist Chris Haynes followed up and Lillard was expected to be reassessed in 6 to 8 weeks.
Lillard has played 29 games for the Trail Blazers this season, averaging 24 points, 4.1 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game, shooting 3.2 three-pointers per game, shooting 40.2% and 32.4% from three-point range, many of which are new lows in recent years, and the two shooting rates are the worst in their careers. This year is the first year that Lillard's four-year 176 million contract has come into effect, and such a performance is naturally unsatisfactory. His slump is inseparable from the impact of abdominal injuries, and Lillard has been plagued by abdominal injuries since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The Trail Blazers have only finished 16-24 this season, ranking 10th in the West.
In addition to Lillard, many of the team's main players have suffered from injuries to varying degrees. McCollum suffered a series of pneumothorax and rib injuries, Powell triggered a health and safety agreement, and Nance Jr. injured his knee. This made the Blazers' situation worse.
However, in Lillard's five games missing, despite the Blazers' absence of a major general, they played a 3-2 record, and they also upset the Second Place Nets in the East at home, performing well. The team's 22-year-old Anfinny Simmons became the team's biggest surprise in these 5 games.
In Lillard's absence, Simmons had high hopes for the team to become the team's starting defender. He also lived up to expectations, scoring a career-high 43 points in the first game of the start and leading the team to the Eagles. Even if opponent Trae Young contributed a season-high 56 points, it would only be useless.
In the game against the Kings, Simmons scored 15 points in the final quarter to completely destroy the opponent for the team. In the game against the Nets, he delivered a key three-point assist for his teammates, keeping the team ahead until the end of the game, when he received 11 assists, setting a career high. Simmons has averaged 27.8 points and 7.6 assists in his last five games, shooting 51%, 45% and 95% from three fields, perfectly replacing Lillard as the new leader of the team.
The Trail Blazers' journey this season has not been smooth, with several players, including Lillard, mired in trade rumours. In the past few years, the team has actually been difficult to make a breakthrough, except for 19 years to enter the Western Conference Finals, the rest of the time is basically a round of travel, the team has actually reached the bottleneck period, need to make changes, and may even enter the reconstruction period.
Now that Lillard is out indefinitely, it may be an opportunity for the Blazers to make a big adjustment. They managed to tap into Simmons, a potential fourth-year player, and perhaps that gave them a rebuilding direction. This "dunk king" is becoming a rising star for the Blazers.
(Text/Yuwen Basketball)