Damian Lillard is finally getting traded out of Portland, but he will not be joining the Miami Heat.
Instead, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Lillard has been dealt to the Milwaukee Bucks in a three-team deal that also involves the Phoenix Suns.
Here is what each team involved in the trade is getting, according to Wojnarowski:
- Milwaukee Bucks: Damian Lillard
- Portland Trail Blazers: Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, 2029 Bucks first-round pick (unprotected) and first-round swap rights with Bucks in 2028 and 2030 (unprotected)
- Phoenix Suns: Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson
News that Lillard made a trade request surfaced on July 1, and reports throughout the last three months indicated that he only wanted to be traded to Miami. Any other suitors who wanted to pull the trigger on a trade were cautioned by his agent, Aaron Goodwin, that they’d be trading for an “unhappy player” since he wouldn’t be going to the Heat.
Instead, Lillard will now be joining forces with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and the 2021 NBA champions.
NBA
Lillard, a native of Oakland, Calif., has thus far loaded his resume in impressive fashion despite being a three-star prospect coming out of high school. He attended Weber State in Utah, where he eventually became the top point guard prospect in the nation as a redshirt junior.
Entering his 12th NBA season after being the No. 6 overall pick by Portland in 2012, he’s gone on to be a seven-time All-Star, a one-time All-NBA First Team member (four Second Team and two Third Team nods), 2012-13 Rookie of the Year and is part of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team that honored 75 players as among the league’s greatest ever in 2021. He was also on the Team USA squad that won gold in the Tokyo Olympics.
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Missing from his resume is an NBA Finals ring, however. Portland’s best run with Lillard came in the 2018-19 season, when it reached the conference finals. However, the top-seeded Golden State Warriors swept Lillard and Co. with relative ease.
Lillard will hope to have an improved shot at winning the NBA’s ultimate prize in his new chapter with the Bucks, who were ousted by the eighth-seeded Heat in the first round of last year’s playoffs.
Holiday moves out of Milwaukee one day after saying he wanted to retire with the Bucks. He was traded to the Bucks in a 2020 deal that immediately led to the end of the franchise's 50-year title drought.
He and Ayton join a Portland core that includes Anfernee Simons, Shaedon Sharpe and 2023 No. 3 overall draft pick Scoot Henderson.
Phoenix, meanwhile, turned Ayton into four depth pieces after acquiring Bradley Beal from the Washington Wizards earlier this offseason.
More to come...
