One game in, Lillard returns a quarter of Portland's production on a $13.4M salary
Damian Lillard's first regular-season game since rejoining the Portland Trail Blazers ended with 25 points and a rout of the Phoenix Suns in the season opener at Moda Center. Portland won 124-83, according to Sportingpedia; HoopsHype's headline gave the score as 124-93, and no box score in the reporting settles which is right.
Lillard came back to Portland in the summer of 2025 after two years with the Milwaukee Bucks and time recovering from a torn Achilles tendon, Sportingpedia reported, and Bill Oram of OregonLive described it as his first game back in Portland in more than three years.
The game was decided almost before Phoenix touched the ball with purpose. Portland opened on a 21-0 run built on early threes from Lillard, Ja Morant, Deni Avdija and Donovan Clingan, and the Suns did not score until free throws with 5:54 left in the first quarter, per Sportingpedia.
From there the Blazers led by as many as 52, while Phoenix shot 36% from the field and 6 of 31 from three. The team's own game summary on social media needed two words: "wasn't close."
Lillard was not carrying it alone. Morant, acquired from the Memphis Grizzlies in an offseason trade that sent Jerami Grant and Kris Murray the other way, had 14 points and eight assists in his debut; Toumani Camara scored 18, and Avdija had 18 points and 10 rebounds after being a game-time decision with a right ankle injury.
Devin Booker led Phoenix with 23. It was also the first game in charge for Micah Nori, Portland's rookie head coach.
Per WAGE, Lillard is paid $13.4M this season, 111th of the 304 rated players by salary. His contract terms have not been reported, so that salary is the only part of his deal I can read here.
Against that salary, his production ranks first through the opener, and he accounted for 25% of Portland's production. His WAGE Score stands at 78 one game into the season, which puts him in the Smart Money tier.
What made that rank matters more than the rank itself. It rests on a single night inside a lopsided win, and scores this early sit close to the middle and move quickly.
The reporting leaves out the parts I would most want to see: his minutes, his shooting efficiency and whether his workload is being limited as he returns from the Achilles. Those decide whether his share of the output holds once the schedule fills in, and none of them can be read from a final score.
Cost per unit of production gives the same night a second angle. Among the 128 rated players whose production was above zero, Lillard ranks 23rd cheapest: a mid-table salary bought output near the top of that table for the money, without being the cheapest of it.
The longer record is the more durable comparison. Lillard's career WAGE Score is 80 across his rated seasons since 2012-13, which says that, on average, the salaries paid to him have bought well above the going rate. That is a description of past seasons and past contracts, not a forecast for this one.
I'd argue the honest reading of opening night is a narrow one. Portland's money for Lillard delivered on the first night, and what will turn that into a season's value is how many games and minutes he plays from here.
The concession is real: a team that scores the first 21 points of its season has reasons for optimism beyond one player's line. Portland visits the Sacramento Kings on Friday, and that is where the sample starts to grow.