The NBA season doesn’t start for a few weeks, but the league is already in the spotlight.
The Milwaukee Bucks kicked off the new campaign with a blockbuster move on Wednesday, acquiring Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers in a three-team trade with the Phoenix Suns. Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton and draft picks are headed to Portland, while Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little, Keon Johnson, Grayson Allen will be sent to Phoenix.
Social media, predictably, blew up after the trade was reported. But now, it’s time to pick up the pieces and see how this move impacts everyone across the NBA.
Here are five winners and losers from the Bucks-Blazers-Suns trade:
Winner: Milwaukee Bucks, for multiple reasons
General manager Jon Horst absolutely had to make this deal.
All summer long, Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped hints about his potentially murky future. He’s extension eligible in October, but he showed no signs of wanting to commit to Milwaukee unless it could put him in position to win another championship. Well, that’s exactly what this deal does.
Lillard is an elite scorer who has similar aspirations – and he can help the Bucks where they’ve struggled in the past. Milwaukee, with unreliable offense from Holiday in the playoffs, was bounced in the first round as the No. 1 seed last season. While the Bucks’ defense will take a hit – and potentially a big one – their offense should drastically improve. Adding Lillard not only helps the team this season, but it could help them lock up Antetokounmpo for years to come.
Loser: Pat Riley and the Miami Heat
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It felt inevitable all summer. Riley and the Heat were going to end up getting Lillard, right? Portland will surely send its franchise player to his preferred destination, right? And it shouldn’t even take that much to get him, right? Turns out it was all wrong.
The Heat operated this offseason as if they already had Lillard on the roster. They let two starters from their Finals team – Gabe Vincent and Max Strus – walk in free agency. They left two open roster spots, hoping to fill them with ring-chasing veterans. And Tyler Herro, who likely would've been the centerpiece of a Lillard trade, might be disgruntled.
Now, Miami is stuck with a depleted roster from a team that was the No. 8 seed last year. Barring a surprising last-second acquisition, the Heat are going to be short-handed this season. And the pipe dream of acquiring an unhappy Antetokounmpo now seems nearly impossible, at least in the foreseeable future.
Winner: Phoenix Suns add some depth
A sneaky winner of this trade was the Suns, who added depth to their top-heavy roster. Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal are the headliners, but Phoenix now has some decent veterans to ease the load for its stars.
Swapping out Ayton for Nurkic is a downgrade in terms of pure talent, but could it actually be a better roster fit? Nurkic will do all the dirty work in the paint, which Ayton seemed reluctant to do at times. Allen struggled in the playoffs for the Bucks, but he’s a solid bench piece in the regular season as a career 39.5% shooter from deep. Little, while undersized at 6-foot-5, is a capable defender with a streaky jump shot (33.5% from 3 for his career).
Phoenix filled out its roster with inexpensive role players this offseason, including Eric Gordon, Yuta Watanabe, Keita Bates-Diop, Drew Eubanks and Bol Bol. While the Suns are still dependent on their three stars, this deal certainly helps balance out the roster a bit.
Loser: Jrue Holiday, for now
On Tuesday, a report dropped about Holiday wanting to retire as a Buck. On Wednesday, he was abruptly shipped out of town. That’s life in the NBA, where loyalty is never guaranteed – from both players and teams.
The 33-year-old guard spent the last three seasons in Milwaukee after stints with the Philadelphia 76ers and New Orleans Pelicans. His best years arguably came with the Bucks, where he helped win an NBA title and was a three-time All-Defense selection.
Holiday, for now, is back on a young, rebuilding team. Things could quickly change if the Blazers put him back on the market, which apparently could be likely. It’s unlikely that Holiday will find a better situation than Milwaukee, where he was the lead guard and paired with one of the league’s best players. His situation is worth monitoring over the next few weeks before the season begins, because many contenders could use a defensive-minded guard of his caliber.
Winner: NBA fans
It’s finally over, NBA fans. The Lillard saga dragged on for months when there was nothing else to talk about on social media. Now that the deal is done, everyone can move on and get excited for actual basketball.
The Bucks will be exciting to watch, whether you are a fan of them or not. The Eastern Conference will be hotly-contested, with new-look teams in Milwaukee and Boston. As a whole, this is a great time to be a basketball fan after a quiet few months.
