Portland Trail Blazers star guard Damian Lillard will leave the NBA bubble in Florida and return to Portland for further examination of his sprained right knee, the team announced Wednesday.
The announcement came hours after the Trail Blazers’ first round series playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers was postponed, along with two more games scheduled for Wednesday, as teams boycotted matches in the wake of the shooting. by Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old player. -old black man who was shot seven times by police on Sunday in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Lillard, whose team are 3-1 behind the Lakers, top seeded in the Western Conference, was not slated to play in Game 5 on Wednesday due to his injury. He injured his knee in race 4 on Monday.
Lillard had played brilliantly before his injury, leading his team to the playoffs during the planting round held in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, and was unanimously voted the bubble’s MVP. In the last three seed matches, Lillard had 51, 61 and 42 points respectively. He has averaged 30.5 points inside the bubble since the season restarted on July 30, second in league average only behind Houston’s James Harden, who averages 33 points.
It was unclear on Wednesday whether play would resume this season. The NBA has scheduled a special board of governors meeting for Thursday morning, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
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