NBA Fans Shocked Damian Lillard Traded to Giannis, Bucks amid Heat, Raptors Rumors
The Milwaukee Bucks shocked the basketball world Wednesday by reportedly acquiring All-Star guard Damian Lillard in a three-team trade involving the Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Bucks sent All-Star guard Jrue Holiday, an unprotected 2029 first-round pick and unprotected pick swaps in 2028 and 2030 to the Blazers, and wing Grayson Allen to the Suns, while the Suns sent center Deandre Ayton and wing Toumani Camara to Portland.
The Blazers traded center Jusuf Nurkic and forwards Keon Johnson and Nassir Little to Phoenix.
Since there hadn't been much in the way of rumors regarding Lillard going to Milwaukee while he was on the trade block over the past couple of months, many posters on X, formerly known as Twitter, were taken aback by the deal:
When Blazers general manager Joe Cronin announced after the first round of free agency that Lillard has requested a trade, ESPN Andscape's Marc J. Spears reported that Dame's preference was to get traded to the Miami Heat.
As recently as Tuesday, Sportsnet's Michael Grange (h/t Jeff Smith of Sports Illustrated) reported that Miami was the "front-runner" for Lillard and was expected to land him at some point.
That report came one day after Spears reported the Toronto Raptors were the favorites to acquire Dame.
Instead, the 33-year-old Lillard is going to a Bucks team that won the NBA championship in 2021 and had the NBA's best record last season at 58-24.
Lillard is a seven-time All-Star who ranks 59th in NBA history with 19,376 career points.
Last season, injuries limited Lillard to 58 games, but he was dominant when he played, averaging a career-high 32.2 points per game.
Lillard will join forces with a two-time NBA MVP and one-time NBA Finals MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo, plus a one-time All-Star in center Brook Lopez and a three-time All-Star in wing Khris Middleton.
If Lillard and the Bucks' other top players can largely remain healthy, Milwaukee has to be considered the team to beat in the Eastern Conference in 2023-24.
