According to a Thursday report from ESPN’s Shams Charania, franchise icon Damian Lillard is returning to the Portland Trail Blazers on a three-year contract for $42 million.

Lillard ruptured his Achilles tendon in late April. Therefore, he’ll miss most of next season if not all of it. Not since JJ Barea in 2019 has an NBA player come back from the same injury in less than 10.5 months, so the most optimistic timeframe for the 35-year-old Lillard is mid-to-late March.

With two years remaining on his contract, Milwaukee released Lillard last month in a move to clear cap space to sign Myles Turner to a lucrative deal. The Bucks still owe Lillard $54 million guaranteed.

As part of the original trade that sent Lillard from Portland to Milwaukee, the Trail Blazers acquired Toumani Camara and turned other players and picks into Deni Avdija, who averaged 23.4 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game in March.

In 17 games during March and April, Avdija scored at least 30 points seven times. He drained 45.7 percent of his 3-pointers in 13 games during March.

Portland bought out Deandre Ayton’s contract and shipped Anfernee Simons to Boston for veteran point guard Jrue Holiday. Whether Holiday will still be in Portland in 2026-27 remains to be seen.

Lillard’s family and kids kept living in Portland even after he was traded to the Bucks, making a return to the Trail Blazer an easier decision, especially with a lengthy rehab ahead of him. The third year of Lillard’s deal is a player option for 2027-28, and he was given a no-trade clause.

In his first season with Milwaukee in 2023-24, Lillard played in 73 regular-season games and averaged 24.3 points, 7.0 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game. He hit 42.4 percent of his field-goal attempts, 35.4 percent of his 3-pointers and 92.0 percent of his free throws.

Lillard averaged 31.3 points, 5.0 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 SPG in four postseason games.

Lillard played in 58 regular-season contests this past season, averaging 24.9 points, 7.1 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 1.2 SPG. His shooting splits were 44.8/37.6/92.1.

In three games during the playoffs, Lillard averaged 7.0 points, 4.7 assists and 2.7 RPG. Remember, though, he returned in Game 2 of the first round vs. Indiana after being out due to a blood clot in his leg for more than a month. Then he suffered the unfortunate injury in Game 4.

Lillard has been in the NBA for 13 seasons and played in 900 career regular-season games, averaging 25.1 points, 6.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 SPG. He led the Trail Blazers to the playoffs eight times in 11 years, including a trip to the Western Conference finals in 2018-19.

Lillard is the franchise’s all-time leader in points (19,376) and 3-pointers (2,387), and he is second in assists (5,151).

FanDuel has Portland with 650/1 odds to win the 2026 NBA Finals.