It has finally happened. The Portland Trail Blazers finally pulled the trigger on a Damian Lillard trade, but it’s not to South Beach!
The Damian Lillard saga has been going on for a few months now. He requested a trade from the Blazers back in July, and staying true to the philosophy of “the NBA is a player’s league”, he specifically and openly stated that he would want to go to the Miami Heat.
This puts Pat Riley, the president of the Miami Heat, under immense pressure to land one of the 75 greatest players of all time. The Heat went on a Cinderella run last NBA season, only to come short in the NBA Finals against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.
Lillard wants to play for the Heat, and the Heat want Lillard to play for them. It seemed to be a win-win situation for both parties, but the Blazers had something else in mind.
The breakdown
On September 27, the basketball world blew up as headlines of Damian Lillard heading to the Bucks flooded the internet. Out of nowhere, the Bucks emerged as the winners of the Lillard sweepstakes through a three-team trade between the Bucks, Blazers, and Suns.
To sum up the entire deal: Lillard goes to Milwaukee, the Blazers get Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, a 2029 unprotected Milwaukee 1st round draft pick, and unprotected Milwaukee swap rights in 2028 and 2030. Meanwhile, the Suns land Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little, and Keon Johnson.
Bucks bagged Dame
What does this mean for the Milwaukee Bucks? This means they now have the most unstoppable pick-and-roll in the league with Dame and Giannis.
Both Dame and Giannis have never played alongside a player of their calibre. Lillard averages 25.2 points, 6.7 assists, and 4.2 rebounds in his career, while Giannis averages 22.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.3 blocks, and 1.1 steals. On top of that, they have former All-Star Kris Middleton as their third option. There’s no doubt the Bucks now possess one of, if not the most, potent offence in the league. But we have to remember that basketball is played on two sides of the court.
What the bucks gained in offence and star power, they lost in defence. The Bucks gave up a perennial defender in Jrue Holiday. Holiday is a four-time NBA All-Defense Team. He was Milwaukee’s best perimeter defender, and he matched up against the best perimeter players of the opposing team night in and night out.
Meanwhile, Lillard, who is arguably one of the best scoring guards in the NBA, struggles on the other side of the floor. In fact, he had the worst defencive rating by a point guard last season with a 120.8 rating. His lack of defencive prowess is no secret and has been the Achilles heel of the Blazers since the start of the Lillard era.
Pros and cons aside, Milwaukee got the best player in the trade. Dame and Giannis teaming up in Milwaukee automatically makes the Bucks the favourites to come out of the Eastern Conference, as the SBOTOP NBA 2023 odds have them 2.5 to win the East and 4.25 to win the NBA Championship.
Suns give up on Ayton
The Phoenix Suns are all in this season. The three-headed monster combo of Durant, Booker, and Beal now has a defencive anchor in Yusuf Nurkic.
After getting demolished by Nikola Jokic in the playoffs last season, the Suns decided to part ways with rising big man Deandre Ayton. The team decided to go with a big man who is more mature, would willingly anchor the paint, set picks, the whole nine yards.
Some would say the Suns gave up a little too early on Ayton, as he is a 25-year-old who possesses tremendous potential and has his best years ahead of him. Ayton averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 58.9 per cent from the field last season with the Suns.
Taking a closer look, the Suns didn’t pull the trigger on Ayton just because of the fit and team chemistry; they also made the move because of Ayton’s lofty contract.
Deandre Ayton signed a four-year $132,929,128 contract with the Phoenix Suns last year. Given that their roster is quite top-heavy with their big three having huge contracts, the Suns would ideally get rid of Ayton’s max contract and convert it into smaller, more manageable contracts. Which they did.
Instead of paying Ayton alone $32,459,438 next year, they would instead settle $16,875,000 for Nurkic, $8,500,000 for Grayson Allen, $6,250,000 for Nassir Little, and $2,808,720 for Keon Johnson. This gives the team more flexibility with their budget.
Portland’s bittersweet restart
Now that the Blazers have moved past the Damian Lillard saga, they can now focus on rebuilding their franchise into a competitor in the West.
Frankly, they’re off to a good start by securing a big man of Ayton’s calibre to pair up alongside their uber-athletic guards, Shaedon Sharpe, Anfernee Simons, and rookie Scoot Henderson. Not to mention they also have a bona fide bucket getter in Jerami Grant. They may be young, but they’re an exciting team to watch, as they can produce tons of NBA 2023 highlights.
The franchise has yet to announce what they plan to do with Jrue Holiday, but all signs point to a trade. Holiday will serve as a great trade piece for the Blazers, as teams that are interested in making deep playoff runs would be more than happy to acquire Jrue’s skillset.
Surely, Blazers fans will miss Damian Lillard in Rip City, but now they can fully focus on the team’s future, and that future looks blazing.
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