Giannis Antetokounmpo wished a title dedication from the Milwaukee Bucks. They made an enormous one.
Milwaukee traded level guard Jrue Holiday, plus Grayson Allen, a first-round choose and two choose swaps to get Damian Lillard, the seven-time All-Star Portland Trail Blazers guard. The transfer instantly makes Milwaukee the Eastern Conference favorites whereas cementing Portland’s long-awaited rebuild. To facilitate the deal, the Phoenix Suns despatched former No. 1 choose Deandre Ayton to Portland to get middle Jusuf Nurkic, Allen and children Keon Johnson and Nassir Little.
Lillard requested a trade simply after the draft, when the Blazers drafted level guard Scoot Henderson with the No. 3 choose. Not solely was this the second 12 months in a row Portland drafted a young person with their lottery choose, Henderson performs the identical place as Lillard. But whereas Lillard maintained that he solely wished to be traded to the Miami Heat, talks by no means developed between Miami and Portland.
Enter the Bucks. With Giannis Antetokounmpo hinting that he’d go away Milwaukee until they confirmed him they might “go together to win a championship,” the Bucks wanted an enormous transfer. They acquired one by bringing in Lillard, who averaged 32.2 factors and seven.3 assists final 12 months. Milwaukee dedicated three draft picks and $216 million to get Lillard’s companies the subsequent 4 years, to pair one of many NBA’s finest scorers with one among its finest defenders.
Lillard ought to thrive with a Milwaukee crew that usually slowed down offensively in shut video games. Opposing defenses will assume twice about doubling Antetokounmpo, already nearly unguardable, with Lillard lurking on the perimeter. With Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton, newly re-signed this summer time, Lillard additionally has unimaginable defenders round him for the primary time in his profession. As a bonus, the Bucks saved Lillard away from the Heat, who eradicated them from the playoffs two of the final 4 years.
Portland plans to trade Holiday, a 33-year-old star defender who does not match alongside their core of younger guards. Ayton, who simply turned 25, matches the Blazers’ timeline higher, and is locked in for 3 extra years.
Milwaukee’s transfer is paying homage to their trade for Holiday in 2020, the place they despatched three picks and two swaps to New Orleans for the All-Defensive guard. It paid off in two methods: Antetokounmpo signed an extension, and Holiday helped the Bucks to their first title in 50 years. His steal and lob to Antetokounmpo received an in depth Game 5 for Milwaukee, and so they closed it out within the ultimate sport.
It’s an enormous win-now trade, and the form of trade that Portland by no means made to put Lillard on a real championship contender. Neither Antetokounmpo or Lillard may have requested for a extra title-friendly state of affairs, and the longer term is now in Wisconsin.
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