Damian Lillard on Warriors' rash of injuries: 'Never seen it'

SAN FRANCISCO -- Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard said he has never seen anything like the rash of injuries the Golden State Warriors have endured dating back to the 2019 NBA Finals.

"I've never seen it," Lillard said in advance of Monday's game against the Warriors. "I think they might be the first to do a lot of things. At one point they had a starting five of five All-Stars, won 73 games, they've done a lot of great things, made a lot of history.

"It just seems like adversity has hit hard at this point for them. Those guys aren't old. They'll bounce back from it, but you just hate to see it."

Since Game 5 of last year's Finals, during which the Warriors lost All-Star Kevin Durant to an Achilles injury, the rest of their core pieces have gone down with various injuries that have shaken up the NBA.

Klay Thompson tore his left ACL in Game 6 of the Finals and may miss the entire season. Stephen Curry broke his left hand last week in a loss to the Phoenix Suns and will miss at least three months. Draymond Green tore a ligament in his left index finger and is expected to miss at least a week as he recovers.

Without all their injured stars, the young Warriors beat Western Conference contender Portland 127-118 on Monday night to give Golden State its first victory at new Chase Center as Thompson cheered from the sideline. The Warriors (2-5) improved to 1-5 at home -- they haven't started 0-5 in their own building since losing their initial six home games in 1997-98.

Lillard understands that injuries are part of the game, but like many NBA players, he can't believe how many setbacks the Warriors have dealt with in succession.

"It's just unexpected," Lillard said. "You don't expect to see them go from being such a huge deal, big super team, to one guy [Durant] leaves and injuries. It's just an unfortunate situation that you hate to see. In that way, it's just different. It's kind of weird to see them not as the Warriors.

"I feel for the players. You never want to see any of your peers go down with injuries. Klay's a great dude, so it sucks to see him go down that way. Same thing with Steph. ... They'll recover and they'll be back hopefully at 100 percent. That's what we all want to see."

Aside from the differences on the floor, Monday's game also marked the first time Lillard, a proud Oakland native, played inside Chase Center, the Warriors' new billion-dollar arena in San Francisco. He notched his fourth 30-point performance in the first seven games with 39 points on 15-for-26 shooting, including five 3-pointers.

As he spoke to reporters following Monday's shootaround, Lillard noted several times just how much different the new arena felt compared to Oracle Arena, the Warriors' home in Oakland forthe past 47 years.

"It's very weird," Lillard said. "It's very weird ... this is extra weird. Because I'm looking around like -- this place has no history. So it's definitely different."

Lillard acknowledged that while it was tough not being able to play closer to his home, he was frustrated by the fact that several professional teams are moving out of the Oakland area. The Raiders are expected to move to a brand-new stadium in Las Vegas next season.

"It just rubs me wrong," Lillard said. "Like I've watched games here [at Chase Center] on TV and the crowd's just not the same. ...The Black Hole is still there. You still see the Nation in support, why would you leave that behind? It's a real sense of pride in Oakland about everything that represents us.

"It's like the Warriors going across the [Bay] Bridge, the Raiders going to Vegas, it's almost like a money grab. The money moves is kind of pushing the real love and what's really behind these organizations to the side -- which is understandable, and also not understandable because I'm from Oakland. I know both sides [of the situation]. You hate to see it."

Lillard noted that he would still remain loyal to the Raiders after they relocate next year, but he didn't hide his feelings about teams leaving Oakland.

"I don't like it," Lillard said. "If that's what ya'll want to know, I don't like it."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.