Blazers trade Damian Lillard to Milwaukee

Published 6:47 am Friday, September 29, 2023

The Portland Trail Blazers traded Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, Sept. 27, ending Lillard’s 11-year run with the franchise as well as nearly three months of NBA offseason drama.

Lillard, the Blazers’ all-time scoring leader and one of the most beloved players in franchise history, heads to the Bucks in a three-team deal that also brings Phoenix center Deandre Ayton and Milwaukee guard Jrue Holiday to Portland and sends center Jusuf Nurkic to the Suns.

The Blazers also get draft compensation from Milwaukee, with the Bucks’ first-round pick in 2029 as well as the right to swap first-round selections with Milwaukee in both 2028 and 2030.

An NBA source confirmed the trade to The Oregonian/OregonLive. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported the news. The Blazers are seeking to trade Holiday, Wojnarowski reported, since he would only clog up the team’s already deep guard rotation.

The trade came after a drama-filled offseason for the Blazers and for Lillard, who demanded a trade to the Miami Heat on July 1.

Although not Lillard’s desired destination, Milwaukee provides Lillard, 33, with a chance to contend for a championship, something he didn’t see happening in Portland.

Lillard will be paired with by far the best player he has ever played with in Giannis Antetokounmpo, a two-time NBA MVP who led the Bucks to the NBA championship during the 2020-21 season.

The Bucks finished last season with the best record in the NBA (58-24) but lost to the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. The Bucks responded by firing coach Mike Budenholzer and hiring Adrian Griffin, who had been an assistant coach in Toronto.

Lillard, a seven-time All-Star, will be reunited in Milwaukee with Terry Stotts, who now is an assistant coach on Griffin’s staff. Lillard also will see some familiar faces on the court, with former Blazers players Pat Connaughton, Meyers Leonard and Robin Lopez all now on the Bucks roster.

As part of Wednesday’s trade, the Suns will also receive forward Nassir Little and guard Keon Johnson from Portland, plus guard Grayson Allen from the Bucks. Phoenix will send rookie forward Toumani Camara to the Blazers.

Lillard, who averaged 32.2 points per game last season at age 32, demanded a trade after he determined that the Blazers were not serious about building a contender around him after general manager Joe Cronin had declared numerous times that that was his goal.

The situation became contentious on draft night in June when the Blazers used the No. 3 pick to select point guard Scoot Henderson, 19.

The Blazers and Lillard met days later, and Cronin reassured Lillard that the plan remained to build around the franchise’s superstar. But when free agency began soon after without the Blazers making a major move, Lillard issued a trade request and demanded to go to Miami.

Negotiations between the Blazers and Miami never truly got rolling. Despite Lillard’s demand, Cronin sought to find better offers than what he believed he could get from the Heat. On Miami’s side, NBA sources told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the Heat weren’t compelled to throw all of their chips in without the Blazers demonstrating a willingness to negotiate.

In the end, the Blazers came out well if Ayton can turn his career around. The No. 1 overall pick in 2018 became a polarizing figure in Phoenix because of his occasional lack of effort. He was heavily criticized for his play during a second-round playoff loss to Denver this past season.

Ayton averaged just 10.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game after putting up 18 points and 10 rebounds per game during the regular season.

As for Lillard, who will make $46 million this season and could make as much as $216 million over the next four years if he exercises his option for the 2026-27 season, the main question following the trade is whether he will happily play for the Bucks. His camp made it clear during the summer that he wanted to play only for Miami. In fact, Lillard’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, told other teams that if they traded for Lillard, they would receive an unhappy player.

But it appears that Lillard has embraced the trade. He took to X, formerly Twitter, to say, in part: “Excited for my next chapter!”

Lillard would have had a tough time selling being unhappy about playing with Antetokounmpo on a team that had the best record in basketball last season. Lillard will finally have a chance to truly contend for a championship after 11 seasons in Portland, where the furthest he got was the Western Conference finals in 2019.

Adding Lillard also should appease Antetokounmpo, who had told The New York Times this summer that he wanted to see how committed the Bucks are toward winning another championship before deciding whether to sign a long-term deal to stay in Milwaukee. Antetokounmpo’s contract runs through the 2024-25 season, with a player option for 2025-26.