Damian Lillard got hurt in the middle of the 2025 playoffs battle between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Indiana Pacers. The ACL injury, which will now keep him out until 2206, occurred just days after he got the clearance to play after more than one month of recovery from a deep-vein thrombosis and calf strain.
Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon used Dame’s case as one of the prime examples on the complications produced by the NBA’s tight playoff schedule.
His team exited the 2024-2025 season after getting eliminated by the Oklahoma City in the seventh game of the series wherein he played with hurting from a Grade 2 hamstring. He thought the injuries to the players diminish the quality of the games and that the league should consider longer intervals between games.
“I would really, really appreciate it if there were a couple of days in between games in the playoffs instead of every other day,” he said.
“The product of the game would be a lot better. You’ll see a higher level of basketball. Probably less blowouts.”
The Nuggets went on to suffer a blow out from the Thunder.
Damian Lillard, Stephen Curry, JT also had the same fate
It’s painful to exit the playoffs against your will. Gordon refused to do that.
He played in Game 7 but his production was low compared to his previous performances. He scored just eight points and the minutes he was out, the Thunder took advantage of them.
Gordon went on to cite more examples to push his argument.
“You saw it around the league like Steph with the hamstring, JT, Dame. There’s guys all around the league that are just like suffering fatigue based injuries because the games are so closely stacked together. A lot of the times, it’s the team that’s most healthy.”
Curry only played one game against the Timberwolves which Thunder will face in the West Finals while Jayson Tatum missed the Boston Celtics’ last game against the New York Knicks due to ACL tear.
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