Damian Lillard isn't playing for the Trail Blazers because he's out long term with an injury. He tore his left Achilles in late April as the Bucks took on the Indiana Pacers in the playoffs. Lillard had his surgery in early May.

A Milwaukee Bucks team source provided some insight this week into the decision to waive injured guard Damian Lillard and sign center Myles Turner in free agency this past offseason.

The unprecedented waive-and-stretch for Lillard was widely panned around the league, but it's viewed much differently internally. Team sources were concerned about whether Lillard, at 36, could return to the player he was -- and did not want to waste a year of contention in a conference decimated by injuries.

The arrests of Billups, Rozier and retired player Damon Jones sent shockwaves through the NBA on Thursday. Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle, the president of the National Basketball Coaches Association, said that he reached out to Billups and was "fully supportive" of his counterpart during the FBI-led investigation.

The Trail Blazers' young core, including Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara, pushed for a possible play-in spot last season rather than tank for draft position.