Dame Time Coming to Milwaukee
The Portland Trail Blazers finally traded Damian Lillard and it’s to a team virtually no one saw coming.
A Lillard-Giannis Super Duo
After months of back-and-forth, and rumours as to where he would end up playing next, the Damian Lillard trade saga has finally reached its end.
As first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the seven-time NBA All-Star has been traded to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of a three-team deal involving the Phoenix Suns and the Blazers.In exchange for their former franchise player, the Blazers received Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, a 2029 first-round draft pick from the Bucks, and a pair of pick swaps from the Bucks as well.
The Suns, who previously added Bradley Beal via another blockbuster deal in the early goings of the 2023 offseason, received Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little, and Keon Johnson.
In his final season with the Blazers, the 33-year-old Lillard averaged 32.2 points, 7.3 assists, and 4.8 rebounds, on 37.1% three-point shooting across 58 regular-season games.
The Winners: The Bucks
Who would have thought we were about to see Dame Time play alongside two-time MVP and former NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo?
While the Bucks lost one of the best two-way point guards in the NBA today in Jrue Holiday, Lillard’s ability to torch defenders is a huge upgrade for the Bucks and will certainly help the Bucks’ championship aspirations which could prove vital in keeping The Greek Freak in Milwaukee for years to come.
The Winners: Portland’s Future
By trading Damian Lillard, the Blazers can now build around Scoot Henderson, the third pick in this year’s NBA Draft. With Lillard gone, Henderson will inherit the starting point guard position with Anfernee Simmons as the shooting guard and Shaedon Sharpe & Deandre Ayton forming an exciting young core.
Ayton averaged 18 points, and 10 rebounds, on 58.8% field goal shooting last season with Phoenix. This move will also give Ayton a change in scenery as his name has been on the trading block for what seems like the better part of two years now.
There are also reports the Blazers could also trade Jrue Holiday as part of their rebuilding plans, netting the team additional young pieces and picks to solidify their future.
The Losers: Raptors & Heat Fans
For a brief moment, Twitter was set ablaze by a pre-emptive tweet which linked Lillard to Toronto as part of a larger 4 team deal. Whether this was just jumping the gun, or a deal truly was on the one yard line before falling apart, we’ll likely never know.
However, that tweet was quickly deleted, crushing the hopes of Raptors fans who believed that they had landed an All-Star point guard to join their ranks.
Not to be outdone, both Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro took to social media to question the validity of the trade, with the former going so far as to insinuate that the league should investigate Milwaukee for tampering in the wake of the trade.
After months of back and forth, and near deals, it seems as though Lillard won’t be joining Heat Culture after all, despite the mutual courtship between the two parties.
What Now?
There’s still the question of whether or not Damian Lillard will sign a contract extension with the Bucks. He’s in the final year of the four-year contract he signed with Portland in 2021. However he’s also hinted that he won’t sign a contract extension anywhere but in Miami.
Lillard’s latest post on X may provide an answer to that. “Excited for my next chapter! @Bucks”. Lillard also posted that the fans of Portland, which drafted him as the sixth pick in the 2012 draft, will be addressed truthfully.
Without a doubt, Dame Time may have launched the Bucks’ status back to a true championship contender. It’s now down to first-time Head Coach Adrian Griffin to figure out how to maximize the Dame-Giannis tandem.
Giannis Antetokounmpo averaged 31.1 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 5.7 assists, on 55.3% field goal shooting in the 2022-2023 season. The Bucks finished with the best record in the NBA but lost to the Miami Heat in the first round of the 2023 playoffs.
-Iggy Gonzales
Photo: Mikalan Moiso. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.