2026-27 projection
| GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | 3PM | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52 | 29.0 | .430 | .895 | 3.1 | 20.2 | 3.5 | 5.8 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 2.7 |
Correction 2026-07-19 GP 58 to 52. The 58 sat above the three-season base of 73, 58, 0 (mean 43.7, mean-plus-eight 51.7) while the injury flag is still open: he is 36, has played zero NBA games since rupturing his left Achilles on 2025-04-27, and as of July 2026 the reporting shows an on-track rehab but no formal clearance, minutes plan, or back-to-back policy from Portland — the ledger's own "very high risk" tier. This desk cut Ja Morant to 50 and Dejounte Murray to 55 on comparable open-ended return cases; carrying Lillard at 58 was inconsistent with both. 52 assumes a successful camp return with the ramp and rest management an age-36 post-Achilles guard will actually get. Sources: NBC Sports on his recovery · Trail Blazers exit interview.
Role and evidence
Lillard missed 2025-26 after rupturing his left Achilles in April 2025. Portland's official page lists him on the current roster, and reporting around the Morant trade says the club envisions Lillard and Ja Morant starting together. NBA roster, accessed 2026-07-18 · Haynes report relayed by r/NBA, 2026-06-29
His last healthy season was 2024-25: 24.9 points, 7.1 assists, 3.4 threes, .448 FG and .921 FT in 58 games. Hashtag ranks him No. 170 in dynasty and explicitly frames the uncertainty around an undersized 36-year-old point guard returning from Achilles surgery. Hashtag Basketball, updated 2026-07-02
Fantasy value
- 9-cat: picks 55-85 only after preseason evidence; threes/FT can still carry a roster.
- Points: top 50-70 median, but totals formats should discount planned rest.
- Dynasty: top 140-190; contender-only asset with little insulation.
Range
- Ceiling: 65 games at 22/4/6.5 with 3.5 threes and top-35 per-game value.
- Floor: delayed debut, strict 24-minute cap, no back-to-backs, or efficiency collapse.
- Swing variables: medical clearance, preseason burst, back-to-back policy and defensive viability next to Morant.
Related: Portland Trail Blazers · Ja Morant · Jrue Holiday
Career record
Pre-NBA: Weber State, four years in the program across 2008-09 to 2011-12, Big Sky Conference. Freshman: 11.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists in 29.4 minutes over 31 games on .434/.374/.841, Big Sky Freshman of the Year and first-team all-conference. Sophomore: 19.9 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists on .431/.393/.853 over 31 games, Big Sky Player of the Year. Junior 2010-11: 10 games at 17.7 points before a foot injury ended the season and he took a medical redshirt. Redshirt junior 2011-12: 24.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists in 34.5 minutes over 32 games on .467/.409/.887, second in the nation in scoring, a second Big Sky Player of the Year, and AP third-team All-American. College totals: 104 games, 18.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists on .446/.390/.867. Weber State retired his number. Draft: 2012, first round, 6th pick, Portland Trail Blazers. He won Rookie of the Year unanimously.
| Season | Age | Team | GP | MPG | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | 3PM | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-13 | 22 | POR | 82 | 38.6 | 19.0 | 3.1 | 6.5 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 2.3 | .429 | .844 | 3.0 |
| 2013-14 | 23 | POR | 82 | 35.8 | 20.7 | 3.5 | 5.6 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.7 | .424 | .871 | 2.4 |
| 2014-15 | 24 | POR | 82 | 35.7 | 21.0 | 4.6 | 6.2 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 2.4 | .434 | .864 | 2.7 |
| 2015-16 | 25 | POR | 75 | 35.7 | 25.1 | 4.0 | 6.8 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 3.1 | .419 | .892 | 3.2 |
| 2016-17 | 26 | POR | 75 | 35.9 | 27.0 | 4.9 | 5.9 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 2.9 | .444 | .895 | 2.6 |
| 2017-18 | 27 | POR | 73 | 36.6 | 26.9 | 4.5 | 6.6 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 3.1 | .439 | .916 | 2.8 |
| 2018-19 | 28 | POR | 80 | 35.5 | 25.8 | 4.6 | 6.9 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 3.0 | .444 | .912 | 2.7 |
| 2019-20 | 29 | POR | 66 | 37.5 | 30.0 | 4.3 | 8.0 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 4.1 | .463 | .888 | 2.9 |
| 2020-21 | 30 | POR | 67 | 35.8 | 28.8 | 4.2 | 7.5 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 4.1 | .451 | .928 | 3.0 |
| 2021-22 | 31 | POR | 29 | 36.4 | 24.0 | 4.1 | 7.3 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 3.2 | .402 | .878 | 2.9 |
| 2022-23 | 32 | POR | 58 | 36.3 | 32.2 | 4.8 | 7.3 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 4.2 | .463 | .914 | 3.3 |
| 2023-24 | 33 | MIL | 73 | 35.3 | 24.3 | 4.4 | 7.0 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 3.0 | .424 | .920 | 2.6 |
| 2024-25 | 34 | MIL | 58 | 36.1 | 24.9 | 4.7 | 7.1 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 3.4 | .448 | .921 | 2.8 |
| 2025-26 | 35 | POR | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | 900 | 36.2 | 25.1 | 4.3 | 6.7 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 3.1 | .439 | .899 | 2.8 |
He did not appear in an NBA game in 2025-26. Milwaukee waived and stretched the remaining $103 million on his contract on July 6, 2025; Portland signed him to a three-year, $42 million deal on July 19, 2025, and he spent the season rehabilitating the Achilles.
Fantasy history: season-end 9-category per-game ranks are not published free for most of these years, so no specific finish is verified here. What the raw lines support without inference: from 2015-16 through 2022-23 he was a first-round category asset in every healthy season, with the 2019-20 and 2022-23 lines (30.0 and 32.2 points, 4.1 and 4.2 threes, .888 and .914 from the line on very high volume) as the two peaks. The category shape is unusual and stable across the whole career — elite in points, threes and free-throw percentage, strong in assists, and a genuine drag in rebounds, blocks and turnovers, with field goal percentage oscillating around the .439 career mark depending on how many pull-up threes he took that year. He grades materially better in points leagues than in categories, because points formats pay full freight for his scoring volume and do not separately punish the .439 field goal percentage; his 2.8 career turnovers are the only thing points formats hold against him. The 2025-26 rank is zero, not low — he was not rosterable.
Durability: 82, 82, 82, 75, 75, 73, 80, 66, 67, 29, 58, 73, 58, 0. The first seven seasons are as durable as any guard of his era; the 66 and 67 in 2019-20 and 2020-21 are shortened-season totals, not health. The break is 2021-22: abdominal surgery on January 13, 2022 after months of playing through the problem, and he never returned that season. 2022-23 opened with a right calf strain against Miami in late October 2022, a re-aggravation against Utah diagnosed as a grade-one soleus strain, and ended with Portland shutting him down for the final stretch over his objection — 58 games. 2024-25 is the serious one: ruled out indefinitely on March 25, 2025 with deep vein thrombosis in his right calf, cleared to return for the playoffs, and then a non-contact left-leg injury in Game 4 against Indiana on April 27, 2025 that an MRI confirmed as a ruptured left Achilles. He missed all of 2025-26. That is one abdominal surgery, a DVT event, and an Achilles rupture in the last five seasons, and the last two both involved the same lower-leg region.
Trajectory: The arc has three phases. Phase one, 2012-13 to 2014-15, is a high-volume, moderate-efficiency lead guard on 82-game seasons. Phase two, 2015-16 through 2022-23, is the peak, and the specific driver is three-point volume — his makes went from 2.4 to 3.1 to 4.1 to 4.2 while his free-throw percentage climbed into the .890s and stayed, which is how a player scores 30.0 and 32.2 points per game at ages 29 and 32 without a corresponding efficiency collapse. Phase three is Milwaukee, where the assists held and the scoring settled at 24-25 in a secondary role, and it ended with the DVT and the Achilles. The projection problem for 2026-27 is that there is no phase-four evidence at all: he is 36 years old, fifteen months removed from an Achilles rupture, with no 2025-26 sample of any kind to read. The historical base rate for guards returning from Achilles surgery at 35-plus is poor and concentrated in exactly the skill he needs least protection on — the jumper survives, the burst and the defensive viability usually do not. What the record does argue is that his value has never depended on athleticism: threes and free throws carried him at 32, and those are the categories most likely to come back intact. The honest read is a shooting specialist with real assists on a restricted minutes plan, which is a top-60 category player if healthy and nothing if he is not.
Career sources: ESPN career stats · ESPN college stats · Wikipedia — college, draft, injuries, contract · NBA.com 2022 calf strain report
Open questions
- Will Lillard be fully available on opening night?
- Does Portland manage him as a star starter or as a shooting-heavy 25-minute guard?