Lillard gets his way
Blockbuster NBA deal makes Bucks favorites
September 28, 2023, 7:27 a.m
Damian Lillard’s move to the Milwaukee Bucks is official, making the 2021 champions suddenly a top favorite for the title. Three NBA teams and eight players were involved in the deal. The Bucks can hardly believe their luck.
Damian Lillard will play for the Milwaukee Bucks in the future and his move has suddenly made the 2021 champions a top favorite for the title in the coming NBA season. Hours after US media reported on Wednesday about the spectacular swap deal involving a total of three teams involved, the Bucks made the deal official that evening. “Looking forward to the next chapter,” Lillard wrote in a farewell message to Portland fans on X, the network formerly known as Twitter.
The Olympic champion is one of the absolute best NBA professionals and was therefore elected to the anniversary team of the 75 best professionals in the history of the league. The move to Milwaukee is surprising because Lillard was clearly in favor of the Miami Heat as the new team.
The fact that the Trail Blazers have not wanted to fulfill this wish for months has been a big topic in the NBA. The 33-year-old only played 58 games last season, setting career highs with average points of 32.2 points, 7.3 assists per game and a shooting rate of 46.3 percent. In late February, he scored 71 points against the Houston Rockets.
Bucks hierarchy very enthusiastic
After eleven years with the Portland Trail Blazers, Lillard is now moving to work alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee. There he wants to celebrate the successes that he was unable to achieve in his previous career in Portland. “Today is an exciting day for Milwaukee,” said franchise bosses Peter Feignin and Jon Horst: “You simply have to grab it when the opportunity arises to add one of the best NBA players to an already extremely diverse and ambitious squad fetch.”
According to US media, eight players are said to be involved in addition to the teams from Milwaukee and Portland as well as the Phoenix Suns. The Bucks have to sacrifice their previous playmaker Jrue Holiday, with whom they won the NBA title two years ago, for Lillard. Holiday will be active in Portland in the future. Suns center Deandre Ayton and talent Toumani Camara are also moving to Oregon. The Suns receive Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson.