Damian Lillard traded to Bucks in blockbuster three-team deal with Suns
The Milwaukee Bucks heard Giannis Antetokounmpo’s comments and answered with a blockbuster move.
All-NBA guard Damian Lillard is headed to Milwaukee to team up with Antetokounmpo as part of a three-team trade that will see Deandre Ayton and Jrue Holiday head to Portland and Jusuf Nurkic and others going to Phoenix. The trade was broken by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The trade breaks down this way:
Milwaukee receives: Damian Lillard
Portland receives: Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, Bucks 2029 first-round pick, and a pick swap from the Bucks
Phoenix receives: Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little, Keyon Johnson, Grayson Allen
This is a star move by the Bucks, getting Antetokounmpo a star that TNT's Chris Hanes reports the Greek Freak wanted to play with.
In a Fresno barbershop called Phase II a few months ago, Giannis Antetokounmpo was asked of the one player he would like to play with. His response was Damian Lillard.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) September 27, 2023
Lillard had pushed a Miami-or-bust trade scenario, but at the heart of his request to leave the only team he had ever known in Portland was to go somewhere with a chance to contend. He has that now next to a top-three player on the planet. That likely is enough to keep Lillard and Antetokounmpo happy for a few years.
However, losing Holiday and replacing him with Lillard will be a blow to the Bucks' stout defense. It's something first-time head coach Adrian Griffin has to adjust for.
While Holiday will be a great mentor for Scoot Henderson, expect the Trail Blazers to flip him by the NBA trade deadline to another team. From Portland's perspective, Holiday will be easier to flip in a trade than Tyler Herro would have been from the Heat in that rumored trade.
The Suns have their stars — Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal — what they needed was depth, and this trade brings them more solid rotation players. Nurkic is unquestionably a downgrade from Deandre Ayton, but when healthy he is a big body defender in the paint who can play drop coverage, and he shot 36.1% from 3 last season. Ayton had been frustrated about the number of touches he got and his place in the pecking order of the Suns' offense in the past, issues that would have been worse this season when he was the fourth option.
