Damian Lillard is moving to the Eastern Conference with the Milwaukee Bucks agreeing to a deal for the seven-time All-Star.
Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Bucks will get Lillard in a three-team deal with the Portland Trail Blazers receiving Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, Milwaukee’s 2029 unprotected first-round draft pick and pick swaps in 2028 and 2030 from Milwaukee.
The Phoenix Suns are getting Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson as part of the deal.
Here’s what the Bucks roster will look like with Lillard entering the fold (projected starters in italics):
PG: Damian Lillard, AJ Green, Lindell Wigginton, Andre Jackson Jr.
SG: Malik Beasley, Pat Connaughton, MarJon Beauchamp
SF: Khris Middleton, Jae Crowder
PF: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Thanasis Antetokounmpo
C: Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis, Robin Lopez
It amounts to approximately $147,000 in savings, but the team still has $187.7 million in cap commitments for this season and is $6.5 million over the second-apron tax.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this trade is the pressure Giannis Antetokounmpo has not-to-subtly been putting on the organization worked.
The two-time NBA MVP made it clear last month in an interview with Tania Ganguli of the New York Times he wants to make sure the Bucks are committed to—and capable of—winning championships before he thinks about signing an extension.
Antetokounmpo, who still has two years remaining on his current deal, could sign a three-year, $169 million extension at any point until Oct. 23. It would be significantly more beneficial for him to wait until at least next summer when he’s eligible for a four-year deal that could max out at $258 million depending on how much the cap continues to increase.
Even though Holiday remains a very good player and was a big part of the Bucks’ championship team from the 2020-21 season, Lillard solves a lot of the offensive issues that plagued them last season in their first-round playoff series loss to the Miami Heat.
Lillard is one of the best scorers of this generation and remains impossible to stop 11 years into his career. He averaged 32.2 points per game on 37.1 percent three-point shooting in 58 starts for the Blazers in 2022-23.
While some of Lillard’s scoring prowess will likely go down because he’s going to have a much better supporting cast in Milwaukee this season, he’s still a go-to scoring option in critical moments for a team that has often struggled to put great shooting around Antetokounmpo.
This is a significant risk for Bucks general manager Jon Horst to take. Their perimeter defense won’t be as good without Holiday and Allen.
Lillard is 33 years old and has only played 87 games over the past two seasons. There’s still no guarantee Antetokounmpo re-signs, and those 2028, 2029 and 2030 draft picks could be extremely valuable if he ends up leaving the team.
But it’s a bet Horst had to take because if the Bucks flamed out in the playoffs again because the offense struggled in crunch time, they probably would have had no chance to keep Antetokounmpo.
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