Bucks' Doc Rivers Offers New Timeline Estimate For Damian Lillard to Return

The Milwaukee head coach divulged some interesting intel pregame Saturday.

Dec 17, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers during the 1st quarter of the Emirates NBA Cup championship game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

On Saturday night, the Milwaukee Bucks were able to improve their official regular season record to 15-12, even without All-Stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, against the lowly Washington Wizards, whom Milwaukee dropped to a league-worst 4-22.

Antetokounmpo was a late scratch due to a back injury, while Lillard missed his second straight contest due to a lingering calf injury.

During his last healthy game, the Bucks' NBA Cup-clinching 97-81 championship game victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Lillard scored 23 points on an efficient 6-of-12 shooting line (5-of-10 from 3-point range) and 6-of-7 shooting from the charity stripe, along with four rebounds, four assists and a steal.

So when could Lillard return for Milwaukee?

On that front, second-year Bucks head coach Doc Rivers divulged some interesting intel pregame Saturday.

When asked if there was an exact return timeline for injured eight-time All-Star point guard Damian Lillard to return to the hardwood, Rivers was candid, as Eric Nehm of The Athletic's quote reveals.

"No," Rivers said, before going on to offer a sunny estimate. "He could play as early as Chicago on Monday or right after that, so he's close. He worked out today and felt pretty good."

The Bucks next face Rivers' hometown Bulls on Monday night, then the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night.

On the year, Lillard looks to be in better basketball shape than he was at the start of his Bucks tenure, at the beginning of the 2023-24 season. Across his 22 healthy bouts, the 6-foot-2 Weber State product is averaging 25.7 points on .450/.371/.916 shooting splits, 7.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.0 steals a night.

Lillard's defensive issues have been mitigated, somewhat, since Rivers elected to promote second-year guard Andre Jackson Jr., an efficient if limited scorer, into his starting backcourt next to Lillard. In the process, Rivers shifted Milwaukee's most shockingly cost-efficient summer signing, seasoned sharpshooting swingman Gary Trent Jr., to the bench.

Trent took a massive pay cut, from his $18.6 million salary with the lowly Toronto Raptors in 2023-24, to his one-season, $2.6 million contract with the Bucks. In part, the agreement was surely an effort to take a team-friendly deal somewhere he could have an opportunity to play major minutes on a possible title contender. But the market for his services may also have dried up, and was pivoting to a marquee franchise to improve his value for next season. He has looked better since moving to the bench, in fairness.

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