By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
The Damian Lillard trade saga seems to be over. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Blazers are trading Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of a three-team deal, that also includes the Phoenix Suns.
While Lillard is moving to Milwaukee to create an impressive power pair with former MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Blazers get Jrue Holiday and a 2029 unprotected first-round pick from the Bucks. Portland also brings over DeAndre Ayton from the Suns.
The Suns are acquiring Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson from the Blazers and Grayson Allen from Milwaukee.
Lillard was reported to be asking for a trade out of the Blazers early in the 2023 offseason after spending all of his 11 NBA years in Portland. From the start, he made known that the Miami Heat were his preferred choice of destination, something that was also communicated by his representatives and that he wasn’t interested in playing for any other team. In the meantime, the Blazers were biding their time to find a kind of deal that would benefit the organization.
This happened less than a month before the 2023-24 regular season begins as the Bucks were the ones that won the race for Lillard, adding a superstar next to their franchise player. Antetokounmpo will be quite happy to see his team getting stronger and probably feel more eager to commit for 2024-25, while Lillard will get an opportunity to win his first-ever championship next to the Greek Freak.