The second day of the NBA All-Star Weekend was in full swing. If we see, the energy inside California’s basketball arena was impossible to ignore. But among all the events, one moment stood above the rest.
Damian Lillard, who has not played an NBA game in months due to a serious Achilles injury, returned to competition and reminded everyone why he remains one of the league’s most feared shooters.
Damian Lillard’s Comment After the Three-Point Contest Win
Lillard hasn’t played in an NBA regular-season game all year. On Saturday, February 14, he competed in the three-point shooting contest at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, and honestly, it was like he never left.
In the final round of the contest, Lillard put up 29 points. Devin Booker from the Phoenix Suns showed his skills after Lillard’s play and looked like he might pull off the upset. He started hot. But he finished with just 27 points.
Lillard took home the trophy, joining basketball legends Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the only players ever to win the three-point contest three times. He’d already claimed victories in 2023 and 2024. Now he has got a third crown to add to his collection.
Damian Lillard won the 3pt contest without an Achille pic.twitter.com/wrQoko0h26
— diego (@trie2telluuu) February 14, 2026
After the contest wrapped up, Lillard sat down for an interview and opened up about what the moment meant to him.
“It felt like a game. I definitely cared more. I didn’t come in like, ‘oh, it is what it is.’ It was like I was trying to win. If they give me this opportunity, I don’t want it to be like you know everybody like, ‘Oh Dame is shooting’ and then I go out there and get 15 in the 1st round, and I’m done. I wasn’t going out like that,” Lillard said during the interview.
But Dame didn’t stop there. He also got real about what it was like competing with an injury still healing.
“I wouldn’t say I’m representing the Achilles nation or nothing like that. I do think I represent strength.”
“We are athletes, so when we go through injury, people act like it’s the end of the world because people are used to us being like lifted up and everything being about us but people go through way worse. For me, it was more about representing strength. I didn’t choose to be weak about it,” Lillard added during the interview.
If we look at Lillard’s journey in the NBA, it began in 2012, when he was drafted sixth overall by the Portland Trail Blazers. He spent 11 memorable seasons there before joining the Milwaukee Bucks in 2023.
However, his time in Milwaukee was cut short after he suffered a torn Achilles tendon during a playoff game against the Indiana Pacers in April of 2025. That injury came shortly after he had already dealt with a serious calf issue earlier in the year.
Following his release in the 2025 offseason, Lillard signed a three-year deal to return to Portland in August 2025. However, he has yet to play since the injury and is expected to target a full return in the 2026–27 season.
With his contest win, Lillard clearly assured his fans that when he does make his return to the court, he’ll be stronger than ever.
