Dame moves to the Bucks after eleven seasons in Portland: dream pairing with Antetokounmpo. Ayton and Jrue Holiday to Portland, Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little, Keon Johnson and Grayson Allen go to the Suns
Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks. The long-awaited trade finally arrives, but Dame doesn’t end up in the most awaited team, the one he asked for. After 11 years he leaves Portland, per his request at the beginning of July, via trade, but he doesn’t end up at the Miami Heat, which he openly wanted, rather in Wisconsin alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo. He doesn’t fall badly anyway, considering that the desire to abandon the Trail Blazers was linked to the desire to compete for the ring, and in Rip City, despite his prowess, they had never managed to build him a Finals supporting cast. He stopped in the 2019 Conference final.
THE EXCHANGE
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There are three teams involved: it was foreseeable that a third would be needed to get to “checkers”. Portland gets Jrue Holiday, DeAndre Ayton, Toumani Camara, an unprotected 2029 first-round pick from the Bucks, and an exchange of 2028 and 2030 draft picks with Milwaukee in exchange for Lillard. Phoenix, the third team included in the trade, brings Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson to Arizona.
LILLARD PERSPECTIVE
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He turned 33 in July, he has a few years left of his top career. He wanted to try to win, finally. He has just returned from a season as the third All NBA team, so he is a player who “moves” to a “racing” team for what he is worth now, not for what he has done in the past, as a 7-time All Star. He wanted Miami and would have been a perfect technical complement in Jimmy Butler’s team, less of a natural scorer than him, in a defensive system that would have covered his back. At the Heat he would also have been perfect in terms of personality: a complementary leader compared to Jimmy Buckets and Spoelstra. All characters who hate do-goodism and excuses, all characters who emerged from nowhere, with the anger of those who feel eternally underestimated. So Lillard doesn’t end up in Miami, but Milwaukee is a nice parachute. Anyway. Because playing alongside Giannis probably means playing for the ring as Conference favorite in the East. Because the Bucks also have the defensive system, and the interpreters, Antetokounmpo, Lopez and Middleton, to cover their backs. And his charismatic qualities integrate well with that locker room: Giannis is a very good boy, but not exactly a driving force. He, on the other hand, yes. In short, it can work.
MILWAUKEE PERSPECTIVE
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Giving up Holiday is no small feat. Great defender on the perimeter, key player for the Bucks triumph 3 seasons ago. But Lillard is worth that sacrifice. Grayson Allen is a valuable but complementary player. Tips, basically. The draft choices are much less, but they are at least 5 years away, and who knows who the trades will be convenient for then. The Bucks have a title team and with this move they will probably also cure the stomach ache of the Greek who had loudly asked the franchise to demonstrate that it wanted to win. Well, satisfied. Of course, entrusting a custom-built car like this to a rookie coach, Coach Griffin… Best wishes indeed, he’ll need it. Either he wins or he will end up in the eye of the storm, an obvious and inevitable scapegoat.
PORTLAND PERSPECTIVE
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the General Manager, Cronin, has done all sorts of things. He made fun of the best player in the history of the franchise, Portland chose in the lottery in the last two drafts, instead of strengthening himself immediately as Dame asked to stay, fresh from the pharaonic contract renewal. Then he decided to get in the way, not to please him, regarding the Miami destination. He brings Ayton to Portland who didn’t want anyone in the entire league with that contract, a very dangerous gamble. And he brings home long-term choices. By then he could probably have already been fired, with a young team that does not appear competitive in the short term in the Western Conference. Holiday is a master player, but for talents like Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe perhaps he would have been more useful – as a mentor – a vocal champion. Holiday opens his mouth a little more than Kawhi Leonard. And therefore it is likely that the Blazers will try to trade him too to pursue a total reconstruction project.
PHOENIX PERSPECTIVE
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They wanted to get rid of Ayton. Mission accomplished. The Caribbean center had broken with the locker room and the environment, annoyed by his inconstancy and lack of intensity. Nurkic is a substitute with much better understanding of the game and better passing skills, certainly in defense he is not exactly Mutombo and in a team with three stars, Booker, Durant and Beal, who give their best in the offensive half of the field, it is not certain that the right fit. But better than Ayton for sure. Allen will then lend a hand, Little can offer himself as a defensive specialist. In short, is everyone happy?
MIAMI PERSPECTIVE
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Well, the Heat probably don’t. But they didn’t agree to offer the moon as Cronin asked, who was then forced to scale back expectations with the NBA rallies/retreats now only a few days away. The time for procrastination, that of pre-tactics, had expired, and long ago. The Heat will find Tyler Herro, lost to injury at the start of the last playoffs, and have Nikola Jovic, who showed glimpses of his future at the Asian World Cup with Serbia, and Jaime Jaquez, the first-round pick of the 2023 draft, from Ucla , young talents who seem capable of guaranteeing turnover and a future compared to the rotations of 12 months ago, those with Vincent and Strus, then dismissed in the summer, system players who have gone beyond their limits. In short, Miami wanted Lillard, but not as much as Dame wanted Miami. She tried, again and again, but not at the cost of compromising the future for the present. Of course, but now Lillard finds himself against him as a Conference opponent…
September 27 – 9.55pm
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