Damian Lillard To MILWAUKEE?! Full Breakdown
Damian Lillard was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in a 4 team deal that included Jrue Holiday getting traded to the Boston Celtics.
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Damian Lillard was sent to the Milwaukee Bucks in a 4 team deal that included the Phoenix Suns and Boston Celtics. Today, I will go over my thoughts on each team and give a grade.
Damian Lillard Trade Request
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On July 1st, it was confirmed that Damian Lillard had requested a trade and that the Miami Heat were his top destination. However, the problem was a 3rd team had to be involved to take on Tyler Herro as Portland had many guards including Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson, and Anfernee Simons. A few teams that had interest in Herro were the Brooklyn Nets, Utah Jazz, Chicago Bulls, and Charlotte Hornets. Portland General Manager did not like any of Miami General Manager Pat Riley’s offers for Lillard and went with Milwaukee’s offer instead. Nobody expected the Bucks to come in and steal Lillard. Let’s talk about it.
Damian Lillard To The Milwaukee Bucks
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Let’s start off with the Milwaukee Bucks. They gave up an unprotected 2029 first round pick, a 2028 first round pick swap, and a 2030 first round pick swap to Portland, Jrue Holiday to Boston, and Grayson Allen to Phoenix. The duo of Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo are arguably the best duo on paper. Lillard has never played alongside anyone as good as Antetokounmpo. The pick and roll between the two would be unstoppable. Milwaukee was also able to keep Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez in the deal. Middleton is one of the best two-way players in ball. He can create his own shot and play off-ball. Many people forget how good Middleton is considering he is coming off one of his worst years ever. He averaged just 15.1 PPG on a career low 43.6% from the field. He also shot just 31.5% from 3. However, we like to forget that he played just 33 games. Lopez is able to space the floor for Antetokounmpo to attack the paint as Lopez shot 37.4% from 3 last year. Assuming their starting lineup is Lillard, Malik Beasley, Khris Middleton, Antetokounmpo, and Lopez, they would still have a good bench of Bobby Portis Jr., Jae Crowder, Pat Connaughton, recently added Cameron Payne, and others. To make it even better, Milwaukee did not even have to give up former 1st round pick Marion Beauchamp. Losing Holiday will be tough, but when you have the opportunity to trade for a guy as talented as Lillard, you rarely say no.
Grade: A+
Portland Trail Blazers Hit The Reset Button
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For the Portland Trail Blazers, there are many pros and cons with this deal. They recieved DeAndre Ayton, Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams III, Toumani Camaraan, an unprotected 2029 first round pick from Milwaukee, a 2024 GS top 4 protected first round pick, a 2029 BOS first round pick, a 2028 first round pick swap, and a 2030 first round pick swap. They gave up Damian Lillard to Milwaukee and Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little, and Keon Johnson to Phoenix. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Portland is expected to keep Williams for at least this season but trade Brogdon. A ton of teams will be interested in him as he had the 4th highest 3 point percentage in the league in the 2022-23 season. Acquiring both Ayton and Williams are major positives. Ayton was clearly unhappy in Phoenix and we never got to see his full potential. Now that he is on a team that has no excpectations to make the playoffs, we can see his full potential. His contract is not great, but neither is Nurkic’s. Williams struggles to stay on the court, playing just 35 games last year, but he is an elite defender. Both Ayton and Williams are starting caliber centers. They can both be the franchise center which is a good problem to have. Camarran will most likely spend time in the G-League. It is unlikely he turns into anything special but it is more likely he does in Portland rather than in Phoenix. Getting 3 first round picks and rights to swap 2 other first round picks adds to the amazing return they got for arguably the best player in their franchise history. In 5-7 years, the Celtics’ and Bucks’ cores will be older, meaning the picks they received may be valuable.
Grade: A
Phoenix Suns Add Depth
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The Phoenix Suns were not expected to be in this deal until about a week ago when reports came out showing their interest in trading DeAndre Ayton for Jusuf Nurkic. They gave up Ayton and Toumani Camaraan to Portland and got back Grayson Allen, Nassir Little, Nurkic, and Keon Johnson. Phoenix wanted depth for Ayton and they totally got that by adding 3 serviceable players in Nurkic, Allen, and Little. Nurkic is a starting caliber center. Despite having an injury history playing just 153 games over the past 4 years, he is not a bad replacement for Ayton. Getting Allen to be a 3&D guy off the bench is very solid. He shot 39.9% from 3 while giving it his all every night. Little is another great piece to this trade for Phoenix as a 3&D guy. Though he is undersized at just 6’5”, he is not a bad addition for Phoenix. Lastly, Johnson won’t be a major contributor this season as he may not even be on the opening night roster. Losing Ayton is not ideal, but that contract is a negative, and getting back 3 rotational players in Nurkic, Allen, and Little is great value. What makes it even more valuable is Phoenix did not have to give up any picks to offload Ayton’s contract.
Grade: A-
Boston Celtics Land Jrue Holiday
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The Boston Celtics snuck into this deal by sending Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams, a 2024 top 4 protected first round pick via GS, and a 2029 BOS first round pick to acquire Jrue Holiday. Boston has been looking to trade Brogdon all offseason. In fact, they almost traded him to the Los Angeles Clippers in a deal that would have sent Kristaps Porzingis to Boston. However, the Clippers backed out of the deal considering Brogdon is one of the more injury prone players in the league. So to get Porzingis, Boston had to give up former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies. Trading for Holiday can not only replace losing Smart, but is a great counter move for the Bucks getting Lillard. In the playoffs, Holiday will be guarding Lillard. He has shown he is capable of doing so as in the 2018 playoffs, he completely locked up Lillard resulting in a sweep for the New Orleans Pelicans. He averaged just 18.5 PPG in that series on 35.2% from the field and 30.0% from deep. On the flip side, this team has major concerns that may lead some people to have the Milwaukee Bucks as their Eastern Conference favorite. One of those is the health of the big men duo of Porzingis and Al Horford. In the playoffs, if they matchup with teams like the Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets, or Los Angeles Lakers and they are not healthy, I may take some of those teams. Porzingis and Horford will be guarding Giannis Antetokunmpo, Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, or Anthony Davis if they played any one of those teams. Assuming their starting lineup is Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Porzingis, they would have one of the worst benches in the league with Horford, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Oshae Brissett, recently added Wenyen Gabriel, and others. Those are 2 reasons why their grade is what it is.
Grade: B
A Potential Malcolm Brogdon Trade
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Los Angeles Clippers receive:
Malcolm Brogdon
Portland Trail Blazers receive:
Marcus Morris Sr.
Bones Hyland
2028 top 10 protected first round pick (will convey to 2 second round picks)
The Clippers buy low on Brogdon due to his injury concerns. They already have a ton of depth so giving up Hyland and Morris would not hurt. Getting another first round pick for Brogdon would also come in clutch. Bones Hyland can be a potential backup point guard for Portland if he can develop. Morris is an expiring contract. Morris and the Trail Blazers can agree on a contract buyout as Morris is a veteran that does not want to play for a rebuilding team or they can trade him to a buying team. A buyout is more likely as Morris is overpaid.
Let me know your thoughts on the trade. This was a shock to many fans and I cannot wait for the upcoming season, especially the Bucks vs Celtics matchups. I am still split on who would win that hypothetical playoff series. Hopefully both teams can stay healthy and we can get a Bucks vs Celtics Eastern Conference Finals Matchup.