Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard will miss the rest of the 2021-22 season as he recovers from abdominal surgery, the NBA franchise announced Monday.

The Trail Blazers said Lillard “has made progress in the rehabilitation phase of his recovery protocol”, that “he has met several key performance milestones to date and will continue with the final phase of recovery in the coming months.” .

The 31-year-old star guard has averaged 24 points, 7.3 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game in 29 appearances for Portland this season.

This is the lowest number of games Lillard has ever played in an NBA season, as well as the lowest average scorer in the last 7 years.

Lillard was originally due to return in March, but interim Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin said last month that he would probably not return until next season.

He will miss his team, currently 12th in the Western Conference and virtually eliminated from the playoffs with a record of 26 wins and 44 losses.

The Oregon franchise has entered the playoffs in each of the last eight NBA seasons with Lillard starting and even making the 2019 Western Conference Finals before losing to Golden State.