Damian Lillard is absolutely thrilled to be back with the Portland Trail Blazers, and he wants everyone, including the Milwaukee Bucks, to understand that he wouldn`t have it any other way. Just hours after the Bucks announced on Wednesday that Kyle Kuzma would be wearing Lillard`s former No. 0 for the upcoming season, Lillard took to his Instagram story, sharing a post that clearly celebrated his renewed connection to his familiar jersey.
While Lillard didn`t specifically name the Bucks or Kuzma, he captioned a photo of himself proudly holding his iconic Portland No. 0 jersey with a poignant message: `if I send u dis, jus kno I know where home at,` followed by three `100` emojis. This subtle yet powerful statement underscored his deep-rooted bond with his original team.
Kuzma`s decision to switch to Lillard`s old number follows a debut season with the Bucks where he averaged 14.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. (Notably, Kuzma also began his career wearing No. 0.) However, his performance in the playoffs was largely underwhelming, as he shot just 34.3% from the field during Milwaukee`s series loss to the Indiana Pacers. Concurrently, Lillard himself suffered an Achilles injury in Game 4 of that series and is now projected to miss a significant portion, if not the entire 2025-26 season.
Lillard seemingly experienced a fortunate turn of events on July 1st when the Bucks decided to waive him, stretching the remaining $113 million on his contract over the next five years. This strategic move not only freed up substantial funds for Milwaukee, allowing them to sign Indiana center Myles Turner to a four-year deal, but also provided Lillard with the remarkable opportunity to join the franchise of his choice.
A distinguished nine-time All-Star, Lillard wasted no time in finalizing a three-year contract with Portland, marking his highly anticipated return to the organization where he spent 11 foundational years before requesting a trade in 2023.
Joined by his three children, Lillard emotionally stated that it `never felt right` to be away from his true home with the Trail Blazers.
“Through it all, I found my way back and just fortunate to be back with the group that I was with prior to leaving,” Lillard shared during what felt like a heartfelt reintroduction.
Prior to his two-season tenure in Milwaukee, Lillard was a first-round draft pick for the Trail Blazers in 2012. He quickly earned Rookie of the Year honors and subsequently played a pivotal role in guiding the franchise to eight playoff appearances over the following eleven seasons.
“Just knowing that I`m going to be back home for all parts of my life, with my kids, playing for the Trail Blazers, driving on the same streets that I`ve driven on pretty much my entire adulthood, my whole family being here, my mom, my brother, my sisters, all my friends around the city of Portland,” Lillard elaborated. “All of those things count. I wasn`t expecting it to happen so soon.”
Lillard`s Unfortunate Milwaukee Tenure
Lillard`s primary objective of securing his first NBA title with the Bucks remained unfulfilled, despite Milwaukee`s clear intention of pairing the elite scorer with multi-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo specifically for that purpose.
“I think you gotta be a little bit lucky to win big,” Lillard recently confided in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “You gotta be healthy and you gotta be playing your best at the right time, and I think we just had bad luck. … I wouldn`t say it was incomplete. I thought we just couldn`t stay healthy. I think that`s the biggest hurdle. That was our biggest hurdle, and each year that was the case.”
Lillard firmly believes that the criticism he faced during his time in Milwaukee was unfair, considering his consistent production and valuable contributions as a veteran in the backcourt. Although the Bucks reached the playoffs in both of his seasons, they ultimately fell short, finishing as the No. 3 and No. 5 seeds respectively.
“I had the ball all the time, so it just looked different,” Lillard explained, “but I think for how productive I actually was, I think it`s been viewed unfairly. Because how many other people have averaged 25 a game with seven assists as the No. 1 option, let alone playing with somebody like Giannis?”
