Damian Lillard is expected to enter Portland Trail Blazers training camp without limitations as he prepares to return from the torn left Achilles that cost him the entire 2025-26 NBA season.
According to Jason Quick of The Athletic, Lillard has made significant progress during his rehabilitation and is expected to be unrestricted when Portland opens camp.
The 36-year-old has also been participating in pre-camp workouts, with teammate Toumani Camara offering an encouraging assessment of his movement and speed after matching up against him.
Lillard tore his left Achilles during the Milwaukee Bucks' 2025 first-round playoff series against the Indiana Pacers and has not played in an NBA game since.
After being waived by Milwaukee, the nine-time All-Star returned to Portland, where he spent the first 11 seasons of his career.
Lillard was able to participate in and win the NBA Three-Point Contest during his rehabilitation in February, but his return to full NBA basketball has remained the bigger milestone.
He is now approaching that point.
Training camps officially open on September 29, giving Lillard his first opportunity to prepare for an NBA season as an active player since suffering the injury.
Lean Edge Thoughts...
Damian Lillard has spent more than a year working towards this moment.
Not a workout video.
Not another shooting session.
Not another encouraging rehabilitation update.
Basketball.
When Portland opens training camp, Lillard is expected to be there without limitations.
For a 36-year-old guard returning from a torn Achilles, those words matter.
Lillard hasn't played an NBA game since April 2025. An entire NBA season has passed without him taking the floor.
There have been plenty of signs along the way that the old shooting touch never disappeared.
He even won the Three-Point Contest while sitting out the season.
But shooting was never really the biggest question.
Movement was.
Burst was.
Could a guard whose game has always depended on creating tiny pockets of space still create them after one of basketball's most serious injuries?
That's why Toumani Camara's assessment of Lillard's workouts is arguably just as interesting as the medical update.
Camara knows what elite NBA movement feels like because trying to stop it is his job.
If Lillard is already testing one of Portland's best perimeter defenders with his first step and speed, that's an encouraging sign.
It doesn't mean Portland should expect 2019 Damian Lillard to walk through the door.
Nor should it need him to.
This version of the Trail Blazers isn't built around asking Dame to manufacture 35 points every night.
Portland now has Ja Morant, Deni Avdija and a roster that reached the postseason while Lillard spent the year rehabilitating.
That creates something Lillard rarely had during his first spell in Portland.
Options.
The fascinating part of his return isn't whether he can still dominate possession.
It's whether a slightly different Damian Lillard can make this version of Portland more dangerous.
His shooting alone changes geometry.
Defenders cannot casually leave him to load up against Morant's drives. They cannot ignore him while Avdija attacks. And if Lillard still has enough burst to punish aggressive closeouts, the choices become uncomfortable very quickly.
There will still be sensible caution.
No-limitations training camp does not guarantee an 82-game season, heavy minutes or an immediate return to All-Star production.
Portland will have every reason to manage a 36-year-old coming off an Achilles rupture carefully.
But that's a conversation for later.
The first hurdle was simply getting Damian Lillard back onto an NBA floor.
Seventeen months after the injury, that floor is finally getting close.
LEAN EDGE VERDICT
Damian Lillard doesn't need to prove he's the player he was at 28.
He needs to show there is still enough of Damian Lillard at 36.
The shooting never really went anywhere.
Now the early evidence suggests the movement is coming with it.
Training camp will provide the first meaningful test, and Portland should resist the temptation to rush anything simply because Lillard has been cleared to participate.
But after an entire season spent waiting for his return, this is the update the Trail Blazers wanted.
The rehabilitation chapter is nearing its end.
The basketball chapter can finally begin again.
