Former Blazer Lillard to return for first game in Portland since joining Bucks

This week, for the first time in 10 months, former Portland Trail Blazer Damian Lillard will play a game at the Moda Center. But this game will have a whole new feeling.

The star point guard will return on Wednesday, when his new team, the Milwaukee Bucks, takes on the Blazers, in a game likely to feature tributes to the former Portland star.

Lillard, whom the Blazers drafted in the first round in 2012, earned the admiration of Blazers fans and Oregonians during his time in the Pacific Northwest for his clutch gameplay. He also said he had hoped to finish his career playing for only one team.

But after 11 years in Portland, Lillard requested a trade on July 1, 2023. The team had failed to reach the playoffs in consecutive seasons. The Trail Blazers eventually traded Lillard to the Bucks in September, as part of a three-team deal with the Phoenix Suns.

Related: What the end of Damian Lillard’s time in Portland means for the Blazers — and for fans

Oregon-based sports journalist Sean Highkin, who writes the newsletter The Rose Garden Report, said Lillard’s status as the Blazers’ all-time points leader means Wednesday night will be anything but a typical return for a former player.

“I will be shocked if it’s anything other than entirely positive,” Highkin said. “I think a lot of fans were sad that he wanted to leave, but I think a lot of them understood it.”

Since Lillard left, the Blazers have largely struggled on the court, with one of the worst records in the Western Conference. The focus of the team has largely shifted from making the playoffs each season to developing a core of young, talented players for the future, said Highkin, who has covered the Trail Blazers for seven years.

Meanwhile, the Bucks have thrived with Lillard and find themselves near the top of the Eastern Conference.

The anticipation surrounding his return has been building for weeks, with the game being broadcast to a national audience on ESPN.