It’s going to be Dame Time for the first time during the 2025 NBA playoffs.
Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard told reporters after morning shootaround he plans to return to the lineup Tuesday when the Bucks face the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series. Lillard missed the final 14 games of the regular season and Milwaukee’s 117-98 Game 1 loss to Indiana after being diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis (a blood clot) in his calf last month.
If Lillard does play, it will be the first time since the Bucks acquired him via trade before the 2023-24 season that Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo will appear in a playoff game together. Antetokounmpo missed the postseason last year when the Bucks fell to the Pacers in a first-round series. Lillard is averaging 24.9 points and 7.1 assists per game during his second season in Milwaukee.
Here’s more information on Lillard’s potential return, his injury and what it could mean for the Bucks in their NBA playoff series against the Pacers moving forward:
Damian Lillard injury update
Lillard was officially upgraded to questionable for Game 2 by the Bucks on Monday before he told reporters in Indianapolis Tuesday morning that he is playing. It will be Lillard’s first game since March 18.
The impending return of the nine-time all-star isn’t a surprise at this point. The Bucks issued multiple positive progress reports leading into the playoffs, although they declined to disclose a specific timeline for a return prior to Lillard’s definitive message on Tuesday.
The Bucks announced on April 17 that Lillard had been granted medical clearance to resume full basketball activities. He nonetheless sat out Game 1 against the Pacers on Saturday. Lillard said Tuesday he will not be under a minutes restriction and his playing time will be a fluid decision.
“Honestly, it’s really just how I feel,’ he said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. ‘I’m going to be communicating to Doc how I’m feeling. It’s no real way to simulate being in an NBA game, let alone a playoff game, so I’m really just going in with intentions to e out there with the team and I’m going to give everything that I got. I’ll just build from there.”
Lillard’s injury was initially thought to be a calf strain. His treatment after being diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis included the use of blood thinners. Deep vein thrombosis occurs when a blood clot forms in one or more of the deep veins in the body, usually in the legs, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Damian Lillard vs. Tyrese Haliburton
Lillard engaged in a notable exchange of words with Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton while on the sideline during Game 1 and received a technical foul for his actions. He left the bench and confronted Haliburton during a timeout in play after the Bucks had challenged a call on the court.
Haliburton and Lillard have some history dating back to last season, just like these two teams. Haliburton imitated Lillard’s Dame Time watch celebration when the Bucks and Pacers met in the 2023 in-season tournament semifinals in Las Vegas.
Lillard and Haliburton are likely to be matched up often the rest of the series now that Lillard is ready to return. Antetokounmpo could use the help after he accounted for 36 points and 12 points in Saturday’s Game 1 loss, while the rest of the Bucks’ starters combined to score 14 points.
‘I don’t think it’s ever going to be perfect when you miss that much time and then you’re kind of back into an intense environment,’ Lillard said Tuesday, ‘but you gotta break yourself in somewhere and I just know that it’s not going to be a perfect time for it. I gotta go out and break myself in and I think that’s just better to do early in a series than later before it’s possibly too late.”
Pacers vs. Bucks: NBA playoffs schedule, time, TV channel, live streaming
The Eastern Conference first-round series between the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks continues with Game 2 on Tuesday, April 22 in Indianapolis. Here’s the updated schedule for Pacers vs. Bucks. All times listed are Eastern.
Game 1: Pacers 117, Bucks 98
Game 2: Bucks at Pacers | Tuesday, April 22 | 7 p.m. | NBA TV
Game 3: Pacers at Bucks | Friday, April 25 | 8 p.m. | NBA TV, ESPNU, Fubo
Game 4: Pacers at Bucks | Sunday, April 27 | 9:30 p.m. | TNT, Sling TV
Game 5: Bucks at Pacers | Tuesday, April 29, TBD | TBD*
Game 6: Pacers at Bucks | Friday, May 2, TBD | TBD*
Game 7: Bucks at Pacers | Sunday, May 4, TBD | TBD*
*if necessary