Bucks' Rivers: 'We have much more hope' Lillard returns this season

Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers has growing optimism that Damian Lillard will return this season.

"We have much more hope today than we did three days ago, I can tell you that," Rivers said, according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps. "And so we're going to take everything that we can do to see if there's a way we can get him back."

Lillard was ruled out indefinitely last week with a blood-clot issue. He missed his eighth consecutive game Thursday as the Bucks beat the Philadelphia 76ers.

Rivers is hopeful for a return but is also preparing for the possibility that Lillard will miss the rest of the campaign.

"We get him back, we know how to play," Rivers said. "But we don't know how to play in the long term without him. And so it's really the nine Giannis (Antetokounmpo) minutes that we have to figure out. Before there was either a non-Giannis, but you had Dame, and now you don't have that. So that's what we're working on every day, and I haven't been great at it yet, so we got work to do."

The Bucks are 4-4 since Lillard was ruled out and sit sixth in the East.

The 34-year-old is averaging 24.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 7.1 assists across 58 games this season.