This is a MONSTER MOVE! The Damian Lillard trade saga has at long last come to an end as the Trail Blazers, Bucks, and the Suns all came together to make a MASSIVE, 3-team trade!
I was not expecting this to be where Damian Lillard ended up.
Despite very vocally wanting to go to Miami and play with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo as a member of the Miami Heat, Damian Lillard is heading to a different M city…Milwaukee…as the Bucks, Trail Blazers, and the Suns all came together to make this enormous move possible. And, to be honest, I think this move is going to stratosphere the Bucks into huge title contenders.
Okay, for those who don’t know the details of this trade, the Portland Trail Blazers finally dished their franchise point guard Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Jrue Holiday, Milwaukee’s 2029 1st round unprotected pick, the Bucks 2028 1st round pick and 2030 1st round pick are now subject to Trail Blazer pick swaps, and they also received Deandre Ayton and Toumani Camara from the Suns portion of the deal.
As for the Suns, they got Grayson Allen from the Bucks, Jusuf Nurkic from the Trail Blazers, Nassir Little from the Trail Blazers, and Keon Johnson from the Trail Blazers.
Essentially, this is the big summer blockbuster move that came in fall, but who cares. At least it came!
And, boy, oh, boy, did it come for the Milwaukee Bucks as they instantly became the favorite to make it out of the East and win the NBA title, while also completely destroying the hopes of Miami becoming nailed on title favorites in Milwaukee’s place.
Now, just making this move to prevent Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Damian Lillard from teaming up down in South Beach makes this trade worth it for the Bucks at the very least (as the Heat’s best offseason move now is just Thomas Bryant? Maybe?), but the impact Damian Lillard will have on this roster goes beyond that.
Damian Lillard instantly brings an elite, ruthless, and consistent scoring threat from the point guard position that this team has never had, while Lillard also being the best assister Giannis and the Bucks have had on the roster since this powerhouse formed. I would be shocked if these two guys aren’t in the Top-10 of the MVP race next season as Lillard can dish the ball to Giannis, who will dominate at the rim for fun, or he can just drain 3s on opponents if they block off Giannis at the rim (which is almost impossible when he’s on his game).
The loss of Jrue Holiday as a shutdown, defensive point guard with decent passing skills will hurt, but the Bucks still were able to keep Brooks Lopez, Khris Middleton, Malik Beasley, Bobby Portis, Jae Crowder, and Pat Connaughton on the team.
Yes, the Bucks are going to give up more points/game, but they’re bound to score at least a good dozen or more points/game than last season if Lillard stays healthy and lives up to his potential. This is just a brilliant move for them.
Moreover, this is a great move for both the Suns and Trail Blazers as Portland not only picked up all-star caliber players in Deandre Ayton (even if he is softer than the Pillsbury Doughboy) and Jrue Holiday (if they keep him) to build around Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe in exchange for a backup center/rotation starter and a guy who desperately wanted out, but Phoenix massively improved their depth for KD, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker by bringing in Jusuf Nurkic (the backup center/starter), Grayson Allen (a capable, gritty rotation guard) Nassir Little, and Keon Johnson.
Honestly, the only team that lost from this trade is the Miami Heat as they literally have gotten SIGNIFICANTLY WORSE since the end of the NBA Finals. They not only lost Gabe Vincent, Victor Oladipo, Cody Zeller, and Max Strus, but they didn’t make a single “big move” as they thought they were getting Dame.
We’ll have to see if the Bucks can actually get this powerhouse rolling (as I have doubts about their coach), but they are most definitely the favorites to get out of the East and win the title now. How could they not?
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