Why Is Damian Lillard Not Playing Tonight Vs Hawks? All-Star Guard’s Absence Amid Losing Streak Raises Eyebrows

The Milwaukee Bucks have established themselves as one of the most dominating teams of the ongoing NBA season. Thanks to the efforts of players like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, the franchise recorded a 46-25 score in their name and placed themselves firmly as the 2nd seed on the Eastern Conference points table. Recently, however, they hit a speed bump as they have managed to lose their previous two games against the Lakers and the Pelicans. If the situation is not rectified, the Cleveland Cavaliers will have a good chance of displacing them. Their next matchup against the Atlanta Hawks provides a good opportunity to do so. However, the Bucks will have to go about it without Lillard tonight.

A few hours ago, ‘The Athletic’ reporter Eric Nehm took to his official X account to highlight the recent Injury Report submitted by the Bucks before their game. The same took fans by surprise, as Damian Lillard was declared “out” of the matchup due to “personal reasons”. While fans saw him returning to the locker room briefly in the previous matchup against the Pelicans, his absence for the next one has not been marked as injury-related.

While the player or any of his close associates have not confirmed the same, there is a good chance that Lillard has opted to miss out on the game to allegedly spend some time with his eldest child, Damian Jr. It was only a few hours ago when the NBA star took to social media to mark his son’s 6th birthday by sharing a post with his 10.4 million followers. Filled with pictures of some of the most memorable moments shared between him and his little bundle of joy, Damian’s tribute would surely have made the hearts of many social media users flutter. The Bucks had been on the road during the last game, which is probably why the 8x NBA All-Star does not want to travel to the State Farm Arena in Atlanta and instead allegedly choose to spend some time with his son.

Similarly to Lillard, Chris Livingston and Jaylin Galloway have been listed as “out” due to non-injury-related reasons. Giannis also appears on the report, being listed as ‘probable’. Given that he was listed as ‘probable’ in the report released before the Pelicans clash but still managed to make an appearance, the Greek Freak’s availability is not that doubtful.

How many children does Damian Lillard have?

The adorable Damian Jr. is not the only one that the NBA player has been fortunate enough to be the father of. Along with the newly turned 6-year-old, Damian Lillard also shares a pair of twins named Kalii (son) and Kali (daughter) with his ex-wife, Kay’La Hanson.

Lillard’s relationship with his children seemed to be threatened after he and Hanson filed for divorce back in October 2023. Soon after that, reports started to come in that Hanson had also filed for sole custody of the couple’s three children. Despite this, the player has been attempting to do whatever he can to spend some time with them. It was only a few weeks ago when fans got a glimpse of the kids spending some time with Lillard during the All-Star weekend. The latter even took some time out to help a 3-year-old Kali figure out how to use a disposable camera.

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