The Milwaukee Bucks announced that guard Damian Lillard's deep vein thrombosis in his right calf has improved significantly, but he is still unable to return for the start of the playoffs.

"Dillard's latest weekly checkup showed that his injury has improved significantly, which will enable him to further increase basketball training while ensuring safety," said Jon Horst, the team's general manager. "We are pleased with his current recovery."

The 34-year-old Lillard is one of the main players of the Milwaukee Bucks. This season, he averaged 24.9 points and 7.1 assists per game, both ranking in the top 10 in the league. In addition, Lillard was selected to the All-Stars again this year, which is the 9th time in his career.

Although Lillard missed the last 14 regular season games due to injury, the Milwaukee Bucks still achieved a record of 10 wins and 4 losses, and ended the regular season with 8 consecutive wins. The Milwaukee Bucks ranked 5th in the Eastern Conference with 48 wins and 34 losses, and successfully entered the playoffs.

The Milwaukee Bucks will face the Indiana Pacers this Saturday to start the first round of the playoffs. In fact, this is not the first time Lillard has missed the team's first round of the playoffs. A similar thing happened last year.

At that time, the Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated in the first round because their core players Giannis Antetokounmpo and Lillard missed the playoffs due to injuries. The absence of the main players dealt a heavy blow to the team, so everyone hopes that they can avoid repeating the same mistake this season.