PORTLAND —

I don’t blame a frustrated Damian Lillard for drawing a technical foul in the final minute of Portland’s Thursday night loss, the team’s 27th of this season. The Trail Blazers lost only 29 regular-season games all last season.

Blazers fans would draw a tech, too, if they could.

Trailing by double digits, amid a lackluster defensive team effort, in a season spiraling nowhere, Lillard was whistled after complaining about a non-call.

“You’re down 13. I’m doing a reverse layup. The guy smacked me in the head. The referee was right there,” Lillard told reporters after the game. “I asked him, ‘How do you not make that call?’ He tells me, ‘We all agree you leaned into him.’ That’s an insult, man. You leaned into him? He smacked me in the head. Come on, man. That’s frustrating as hell.”

Dame, we all feel smacked in the head right now.

I understand why Lillard is frustrated. He didn’t get the call. With less than 14 seconds left and the outcome decided, it looked a lot like the officials were not much interested in prolonging the game. But I am more interested in whether Lillard’s talents are being wasted.

He scored 47 points in the 133-125 home loss against Dallas. Three nights earlier, he put up 61 against the Warriors. It is a fun one-man show. What we’re witnessing is a great player, performing at a high level, stuck on a team with a broken roster.

Lillard is not a whiner, prone to spats with officials.

He drew his third technical foul of this season last night. In the two prior seasons, Lillard had a combined five technical fouls. It must be a frustrating endeavor to be in your prime NBA years and find yourself trying to paddle an aircraft carrier by yourself.

Dallas scored 78 first-half points. Aside from the All-Star guard, the Blazers just cannot match that firepower. Portland is 5-17 against teams with winning records this season. At some point, that takes a toll on everyone, but nobody more than a guy who started this season viewed as one of the 10 best players in the league.

Lillard deserves better. But he is boxed in on this roster. So I cannot imagine, especially after the Western Conference Finals magic that was captured last postseason, what it must feel like to go to work every day knowing that you simply cannot compete with the best.

The guy is a competitor. He is also a master marketer, fiercely protective of his brand. But right now, Lillard is reduced to a great player stuck on a lousy team and the franchise cannot do much about it. Bad moves and injuries have sunk the season.

The Blazers signed Carmelo Anthony out of desperation. They traded Kent Bazemore and got Trevor Ariza, but that was essentially a sideways move that saved ownership $12 million in luxury tax. It raised eyebrows this week when Lillard revealed that injured center Jusuf Nurkic had practiced, five on five, with the team. A hopeful development, pushed forth by a guy who needs Nurkic back more than anyone.

It has to be incredibly frustrating for Lillard to have to wait. The Blazers may want to pump the brakes on expediting Nurk’s return, just to be sure they are not jeopardizing next season. But what then? Trading Hassan Whiteside at the trade deadline, maybe? A move in summer free agency, maybe? A lottery pick in the NBA draft, maybe?

Too many maybes. And Lillard is 29 years old. That is an important detail here.

Years ago, when Kevin Pritchard was general manager, the Trail Blazers studied the ages of star players in the league by position.

They were trying to determine peak years, by position, for free-agent purposes. Big men peaked later than guards, it turned out. But age 30 was a significant marker for guards.

Two years ago, Hoops Hype looked at the All-NBA teams from the last century. Only twice since 1950 did the average age of the All-NBA team surpass 30. Both times, due to an aging outlier named Michael Jordan. The majority of the age-30-plus players who made the All-NBA teams were post players.

Also, Vice Sports published a piece four years ago on the aging of NBA players. It determined what every middle-aged guy who has ever played in a gym pickup game knows — aging sucks. That study concluded, “… player performance tends to peak around 26. After that, players start to decline: slowly at first, and then precipitously.”

It really does underscore how important the next few months are for the Trail Blazers. They have to get it right. They have a tent-pole player in Lillard. But the circus beneath it has to stop. The plan cannot be desperate. It cannot be guesswork. The plan has to be smart, and shrewd, and successful.

Most of all, it has to account for Lillard’s timeline.

The Blazers have a narrow window of maybe two to four seasons to win big with Lillard.

I have always viewed him as a young guy who takes care of his body. But he is putting heavy miles on it right now keeping his team afloat, night to night. Lillard, at age 34, might be pushing it. Also, that would take him through the end of his current contract.

I feel for Lillard, who has dedicated himself to solving a small-market puzzle that most NBA stars would not even attempt. He is a self-made player. He has worked hard. It is essentially everything we tell our children about. Sweat, do the right things, and good things will happen.

A smack in the head was not part of that bargain.