Damian Lillard, Blazers Agree On Two-Year Super-Max Extension

The Trail Blazers and All-Star guard Damian Lillard have all but finalized agreement on a two-year, maximum contract extension, per Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The deal is worth $122 million and consists of a player option for the 2026-27 season, added ESPN’s Bobby Marks. As Charania noted, Lillard will now become one of the top earners in NBA history, with a sum that totals an estimated $451 million in salary.

Lillard spent the second half of last season on the injured list following abdominal surgery. New Blazers GM Joe Cronin started to retool the roster with Lillard out — but made it clear he fully intended to build around Lillard.

A couple moves made headlines, the first of which sent longtime Lillard running-mate CJ McCollum to the Pelicans. But Cronin traded for ex-Pistons forward Jerami Grant to help shore up the frontcourt this offseason.

Lillard said in March that he intends to remain with the franchise.

“I think personally my best is yet to come 100 percent,” Lillard said in an exclusive interview with Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. “This is my first time being able to take a step back and just fully address my development. Over the course of my career, there have always been things that I’ve wanted to correct or get better at, but maybe I had a long season and went into the playoffs and then we had a quick turnaround. Whatever the case may be, I never had this much time to fully break down my game and really challenge myself development-wise.

“I’ve had a window of time and opportunity to add to my game and to watch film with my coaches and trainers to really address those things that a lot of times might be uncomfortable,” he told Haynes. “Since I had my surgery in January, I’ll have around 10 months before the start of next season. So me having that amount of time to look in the mirror to address these things and get my body right, we’ll get the most out of it and I’ll be the best version of myself individually.”

He reiterated that winning in Portland remains his primary goal, and he believes it can happen with some more roster moves. And more of Lillard himself.

“That’s the only thing I care about, honestly,” he told Haynes. “It seems like after I announced that I was having surgery, people were like, ‘Oh, he’s 31 and having this done.’ Man, 31 is not old. They act like you’re old when we have guys around the league older than me that are still playing at a high level.

“Also, my game is not based on me playing above the rim. I’m a sniper. I shoot. I got a good step. I can think the game. I can manipulate the game, and I know how to play. My game will age well, and I don’t have a history of injuries. And the one that I just had is not a bad injury to have. I’m going to come back and be fine. Like I said, my best is yet to come.”