Damian Lillard: Blockbuster Trade
Damian Lillard has just been traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, which marks one of the biggest blockbuster trades of this year. After months of a prolonged standoff between Lillard and the Portland Trailblazers, he is headed to the Bucks, as part of a three-team trade. This deal included Phoenix Sun's star center, DeAndre Ayton, and Bucks star point guard, Jrue Holiday, along with some unprotected draft picks and role players.
This is, without a doubt, a huge win for Milwaukee. Although they won an NBA title in 2021, they have not been able to replicate a deep and meaningful playoff run since. The Bucks technically did not need Lillard because they had Jrue Holiday, who has put up solid numbers for the past few seasons for the Bucks and was a part of the championship team in 2021, but the Bucks’s front office is hoping that this blockbuster trade will lead the organization on the path to another championship. The Bucks were a fifty-eight-win team last season, and it looked like they had something to prove in the playoffs, but what followed the great season was not pretty. They were first-round exits and a lot of the blame fell on star player Giannis Antetokounmpo, so he convinced the front office that the team needed to go in a different direction and bring in more talent.
The Bucks’s front office took this request of Giannis’s to heart and brought in one of the most dangerous point guards in the entire league. Respectfully, Lillard is an upgrade to former point guard Jrue Holiday. Averaging nineteen points and an all-star last season, Holiday was a great player for the Bucks. Comparing Lillard's stats to Holiday’s, it is clear why the trade was the right choice. When the Bucks have struggled in the playoffs, their half-court offense has been the primary reason. He averaged thirty-two points last season and shot thirty-seven percent from three-point range. Lillard is known to be a player who isn’t afraid to be in tough situations and shoot the game-winning shot, and he is also one of the best defending guards the game has to offer. Between all that the Bucks are giving up, they will probably be slightly worse off defensively but Giannis and Brook Lopez will make up for that. The Bucks will have to sign some free agents and possibly make more trades to refill the depth chart, but the core of the team is looking scary.
The Bucks core could be one of the best in the NBA. They will have Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, and Pat Connaughton. I believe that this team has the potential to be a championship contender.
By Avner Belsky